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A 



SECOND EDITION 



OF 



RELIGIOUS AND MORAL 
REFLECTIONS, 

ORIGINALLY INTENDED 

FOR THE USE OF HIS PARISHIONERS, 

BY 

Samuel ^opkingott; &.C.0& 
•i 

FORMERLY, FELLOW OF CLARE-HALL, RECTOR OF 
ETTON, AND VICAR OF MORTON CUM HACCONBY, 



Remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth : 

so, 

Thou wilt, probably, come to thy grave in a full age ; like 

as a shoek of corn cometh in, in his season. 



LONDON: 



PRINTED FOR J. HARRIS, 
CORNER OF ST. PAULAS CHURCH YARD, 

1814. 



• •"" J 






'JytM. I, 



Nichols, Son, and Bentley, Printers, 
Red Lion Passage, Fleet Street, London. 



CONTENTS. 



Dedication 13 

Address 15 

Directions for the use of the Common Prayer 19 



Morning l _ 

° Y Prayers 
Evening J 

Grace ff 1 * 6 ) Meat 
( after ) 


38,39 
40,41 


Sacraments 


42 


Baptism 

Lord's {^ Upper 
I Prayer 

Creed 


44 

47 
51 
52 


Commandments 


53 


Government of the Mind 


63 


Prayer > 

Sunday 

Time 


67 
72 
76 


Industry 
Contentment 


81 

87 


Character 


94 


Regulations for a Sunday School 

Forgiveness 

Charity 


98 
108 
113 



CONTENTS. 

Parents to Children 115 

Children to Parents 120 

Universal Deluge 124 

Earthquake, Thunder, and Lightning 128 

Seasons 132 

Employment of Time 1 34 

Intemperance 137 

Cruelty 141 

Swearing 151 

Lying 154 

Extravagance 157 

Revenge 162 

Reflections for the young 167 

aged 169 

Death 175 

Judgement 181 

Notes 185 

Conclusion 203 



Auspices —protection. 

Aggregate — compounded. 

Absolution — the act of freeing men from their sftis on par- 
ticular conditions. 

Annex — join to. 

Adventitious — additional. 

A. D. — iu the year of our Lord, 

Avenue — properly a straight row of trees on the right hand 
and on the left leading to a place of some note at the end. 

Asseveration — assertion upon oath. 

Animated — striking. 

Axiom — a thing so clear in itself, as not to be made clearer 
by proof. 

Antidote — something given to counteract the effects of ano- 
ther. 

Alleviate — to ease. 

Avert — to turn aside. 

Ascertain — to make certain. 

Artificial — contrived by skill. 

Author — beginner of a thing. 

Atrocious — extremely wicked. 

Actuated — influenced. 

Arrogate — to claim vainly. 

JEva — a period, from which dates are numbered to the enci 

thereof. 
Apology — A reason indicating good will towards the person 

offended. 
Actuality — reality. 
Annexation — conjunction. 
Argillaceous — chalky. * 

Adhesive — clinging to. 
Appetite — desire of sensual pleasure. 
Avocation — some thing, that calls a man out of the com- 
mon tract. 
Abstemious — temperate. 
Arranged — put in order. 
Apprehension — suspicion of any thing. 
Ameliorate — to make better. 
Amenable — so subject as to be liable to account. 
Annihilate — to reduce to nothing. 
Academic — regularly educated in an university, 
Barbarous — unacquainted with religion and science. 
Beneficed — having preferment in the Churclj. 
A3 



6 

Banner— a streamer borne at the extremity of a pole or lance 

either on warlike or festive occasions. 
Baptism — a religious ceremony. 
Bemoan — to lament exceedingly. 
Conjoined — united. 
Creed — here meaning a form of words wherein our faith is 

comprehended. 
Ceremony — an external form in religion. 
Consonant — agreeable to. 

Commandments — certain things we are to do or not to do. 
Creator — that great invisible Being, who bestows existence, 
Compendium — abridgement. 
Collaterally — indirectly. 
Corresponding — answering to. 
Conversant — acquainted with. 
Converse — opposite. 
Comment — explanation. 
Corporal— relating to the body. 
Cast — turn of mind. 
Chearly — chearfully. 

Condition — degree. 

Cogent — forcible. 

Commemorate — to preserve the memory of something by 
some public act. 

Combination —union for some good or bad purpose. 

Corroborate — strengthen. 

Class — rank. 

Circumjacent — lying around. 

Composed — made up. 

Culture — improvement. 

Consummate — complete. 

Completion — accomplishment. 

'Code— Book of l^aws, as the New Testament is the Christian, 

Catholic «— universal. 

Cavern— a dark hollow place under ground. 

Cliff — a steep rock. 

Consequence — what follows from any principle or cause. 

Catalogue — list of particulars. 

Continual — without opposition. 

Candidate — one who solicits advancement. 

Devotee — one seriously given up to religion. 

Designated — marked. 

Delivered — given out. 
Detrimental — injurious. 

Dehort — dissuade. 
Deport — conduct. 



Dissipation — an unsettled state of body and mind. 

Devotion — acts of religion. 

Diversified — differently constituted. 

Discriminate — distinguish. 

Docility — readiness to learn. 

Diametrically — in direct opposition to. 

Defaulter — one who omits what he ought to do. 

Dawning — beginning. 

Deportment — behavior. 

Decrepit —worn out with age. 

District — region. 

Delineated — drawn out on paper, in such manner as fo 
enable the traveller to find his way either by sea or land. 

Deviation — quitting the right path. 

Dissolve — to cut short or disperse. \ 

Defame — to injure a man's character. 

Degenerate — to fall from a higher to a lower degree. 

Dainty— either real or artificial food out of the common tract. 

Detract — to draw from. 

Disciple — one who endeavors to learn the principles of a 
superior. 

Depart — to leave the world. 

Disseminate — to spread every way after the manner of seed. 

Exertions — efforts little short of labor. 

Ejaculation — something uttered with earnestness. 

Exhilarates — cheers. 

Emanations — Sowings. 

Effusion — here, donation arising from free bounty. 

Epitome — short account. 

Exemplify — shew by example. 

Eternal — referring to a future world. 

Exuviae — shells, scales, or external skins of animals, as of 
snakes, thrown off. 

Elements — the various matter of which the world is com- 
posed. 

Emblem — a representation of some moral notion by a figure. 

Extraparochial — in no parish. 

Foibles — from what no man is free. 

Fervency — earnestness. 

Fragment — an imperfect bit. 

Fountain — first cause. 

Fortuitous — accidental. 

Fallacy — deceitfulness. 

Flagrant — notoriously bad. 

Fossil — a substance dug out of the earth, which once be- 
longed to some animal or vegetable bodj . It is, also, ap- 



8 

plied to such instances as are frequently found upon or 
near it's superfices. 

Frivolously — having: no object of importance in view. 

Foliage — leaves and small branches of the tree taken ag- 
gregately. 

Failing — an imperfection short of actual sin. 

Gentile — a person of any nation, except the Jewish. 

Genius — the ruling power of men and things. Also an in- 
genious turn of mind. 

Geniality — fertility. 

Gulf — a» arm of the sea stretching into land. 

Generation — an age. 

Harm — some injury short of misfortune. 

Hereditary — what passes from person to person by right 
without a will. 

Incipient -**- beginning. 

Initiated — admitted. 

Institution — establishment. 

Inordinate — excessively irregular. 

Indiscriminately — without distinction. 

Intemperate — without rule. 

Immaterial — spiritual. 

Infinitude — without number. 

Incompatible — inconsistent with. 

Institution — establishment. 

Interval — space of time or place between two given 
points. 

Irrevocable — what cannot be called back. 

Impede — to hinder. 

Indifferent — neither very good nor very bad. 

Imposition — placing upon. 

Indication-^- shewing. 

Intercourse — run of business between people. 

Imperiously — positively. 

Introduction — act of bringing in. 

Island — land surrounded by water. 

Impregnated — so filled with foreign matter as to have the 
appearance of one body. 

Incontrovertible — not to be disputed. 

Impending — hanging over just ready to fall. 

Invoke — to call upon with earnestness. 

Indiscriminately — without distinction. 

Immutability — not liable to change. 

Incumbent — lying upon. 

Investigation — close of examination. 

Judgement — faculty of discerning right from wrong. 



Knarled — full of hard knots so as to defy any engine to di- 
vide it except a saw. 

Locality — situation either in a moral or religious view. 

Lybian — applied to places very widely extended. 

Leniently — moderately. 

Lugubrious — mournful. 

Licence — » a written or printed form given by one in autho- 
rity to do some particular thing. 

Licentiousness — contempt of all restraint. 

Meridian — noon. 

Mandate — command. 

Militates — contends against. 

Mental — relating to the mind. 

Meritorious — deserving of reward. 

Malevolence — inclination to hurt others. 

Modification — ■ proper arrangement. 

Monopolize — to have the sole disposal of. 

Measure — proportion. 

Mission — state of being sent by high authority. 

Monuments — here intended either for good men or coun- 
tries meriting divine favor. 

Miscellaneous — composed of various kinds. 

Mine — place in the earth containing metals or minerals. 

Maturity — ripeness. 

Nice — a city. 

Needy — in this instance, one, who cannot afford to brew 
and perform other domestic acts, which are within the 
reach of the more opulent part of the community. 

Notification — act of making known. 

Ordinances — decrees or laws. 

Oracle — council given by God. 

Organized — so constructed that one part co-operates with 
another. 

Oblivion — « forgetfulness. 

Occurrences — events expected or not. 

Predominate — to over-rule. 

Paralytic — destructive. 

Proclivity — strong inclination. 

Purify — to free from bad qualities. 

Perpetration — commission of a crime. 

Preventing — going before. 

Privation — act of removing any thing from us of which we 
had been formerly possessed. 

Precincts — bounds. 

Primitive — first. 

Parish — portion of land containing inhabitants- 



10 

Proffered — presented to attention. 

Precarious — uncertain. 

Planet — a moving star. 

Prophet — sacred writer enabled by God to tell future 

things. 
Permeate — to pass through. 

Perforation — the act of boring a hole through any body. 
Peel — in this sense only applied to the quick noise of 

thunder. 
Promptly — readily. 
Pestilence — a catching distemper* 
Prime — best part of. 
Ponder — to consider attentively. 
Presage — foreboding. 
Prophanely — irreverently to sacred things. 
Pilgrimage — long journey attended with difficulty and 

danger on a religious account. 
Periodical — belonging to stated times. 
Promulgate — to publish. 
Plurality — more than one. 
Perfidy — want of faith. 
Prohibitory — forbidden. 
Previously — before hand. 
Passive — what cannot act of itself; but receives impression 

from some external agent. 
Patrimonial — belonging to a father. 
Prolongation — lengthening out. 
Proselyte — one, who comes in as a convert. 
Preaching — act of delivering a public discourse on a sacred 

subject. 
Quiescent — in a state of rest. 
Researches — inquiries. 
"Repugnant — opposite to. 

Revelation — communication of truths from Heaven. 
Revolving— turning over in one's mind. 
Recounting — detailing. 
Rudiments — first principles. 
Retribution — return according to the goodness or baseness 

of the action. 
Rigor — severest weather. 
Rereward — last reward, which follows in consequence of 

good conduct. 
Remission — forgiveness. 

Redemption — purchased at the expence of another. 
Rasure — taking out entirely. 
Rend — to tear. 



11 

Relinquish — give up. 

Repentance — sorrow for what is past, attended either with 

full purpose, or actual reformation of life. 
Suspended — implying something to follow. 
Sacrament — a ceremony producing an obligation. 
Submersion — plunging underneath. 
Summary — a short account of. 
Sanctify — make holy. 
Seelude — shut out. 
Sanction — confirm. 

Sacrifice — an offering, generally on a religious account. 
Subordination — a state of inferiority. 
Strata — beds of earth, sand, and clay. 
Subterraneous — under ground. 
Specify — to describe by some marks or properties. 
■Source — from whence any thing arises. 
Sagacious — quick in its faculties. 
Scrutinize — to examine strictly. 
Seared — dry and yellow. 
Stalled — set fast in bad road. 
Sable — black. 

Sect — a body of men united in some tenets. 
Sustentation — support. 
Signet — ■ a precious stone set in a ring. 
System — union of many things acting properly together. 
Tenets — maxims held to be indisputably right. 
Temporal — belonging to the present time. 
Tabernacle — place of worship. Also a niche or recess in a 

wall originally intended for images in Saracenic edifices. 
Temper — disposition of mind. 
Term* — manner in which any thing is expressed. 
Trace — to follow exactly. 
Trackless i — incapable of retaining any marks of what passes 

over it, as water, &c. 
Trait — turn of disposition. 
Theatre — scene of public life. 
Trial — trouble attended with temptation. 
Twilight — the interval between darkness and sun-rise, and 

between sun-set and darkness. 
Tremendous — terrible beyond astonishment. 
Tyranny — rigorous commands rigorously executed. 
Title — claim to right. 
Temple — a place of worship among Pagans as a Church 

among Christians. 
Ultimately — in the end. 
Universe — not this earth only ; but the creation. 



12 

Unsullied — pure. 

Unapt — unlit. 

Vicissitude — change. 

Volcanic — natural eruptions of fire. 

Variation— irregular change. 

Vilify — to represent a person as bad in the] eye of hfe 
neighbors behind his back. 

Venial — pardonable. 

Vivacity — liveliness. 

Verge — to bend downwards. 

Vigilance — watchfulness. 

Vehicle — that, on which any thing is carried. 

Warp — to turn from. 

Waft — to carry on by an easy, though quick motion. 

Warrant — a written or printed form authorizing the per- 
son, to whom it is committed, to do some particular 
thing, generally speaking, not very agreeable to him, on 
whom it is to be exeeuted. 



13 



TO 



THE RIGHT REVEREND 

GEORGE 

LORD BTSHOP OF LINCOLN. 



MY LORD, 

X WENTY years have elapsed 
since this little work was offered to the public. 
I could not, then, aspire to the honor of prefix- 
ing your name ; but, encouraged by the manner, 
wherein it was generally received : more espe- 
cially, by what you was pleased to say on that 
occasion, which you, since, had the good- 
ness to confirm by a particular instance of your 
favor, I, now, venture to dedicate to you a 
second extended edition. 

To whom can writings calculated, as I hope 
this is, to promote the cause of religion, be 
so aptly inscribed, as to one, who, blessed 
with great endowments, attained through a 

B 



14 DEDICATION. 

course of virtuous industry from his youth, 
at a period, unusually early, to the highest 
rank of his calling, which he has never ceased 
by his literary and official labors to adorn ? 

May the salutary influence of your example 
long continue to animate your clergy, and, 
while it cannot fail, under an approving Pro- 
vidence, to enlighten the existing race, may 
it contribute to the general felicity of man- 
kind ! 

With this ardent and respectful wish, 
My Lord, 
I am 
Your faithful and obliged 

SAMUEL HOPKINSON. 

Morton, Aug. 20, 1813. 



15 



TO 



THE INHABITANTS 

OF 

MORTON CUM HACCONBY. 



FRIENDS AND BRETHREN, 

1 HE motive, which impelled me 
to write the first edition for my parishioners at 
Etton, has, now, induced me, after a long 
lapse of time, to publish a second, with some 
additions, on your account. Here it seems 
expedient to remark, that the foremost duties 
of Christianity, like the important concerns of 
common life, generally, take care of them- 
selves : that, few, especially of the younger 
class, have the ability, inclination, and op- 
portunity conjoined, at the outset of life, to 
commit enormous crimes. It is an old and 
just remark, confirmed by the experience of 
revolving ages, that l " none became tho- 
roughly wicked all at once." As in virtue, so 
B 2 



16 TO THE INHABITANTS OF 

in vice, there are different degrees of attain- 
ment, which require some time, much prac- 
tice, and suitable company to mature them. 
Seldom, for instance, do we hear of men, in 
plain defiance of laws divine and human, to- 
tally and daringly disregarding the celebration 
of the sabbath, openly and professedly vio- 
lating God's commandments. What, how- 
ever, is more frequent, than what is stiled even 
the better part of the Christian world to be 
indifferent about the sabbath? Parents, 
through a culpable fondness entirely to over- 
look or backward to check the 2 early foi- 
bles of their children ? What is more com- 
mon, than persons in the higher walks of life 
being careless about the inferior branches of 
religion, as privately addressing the Al- 
mighty at entering and leaving the church : 
at the beginning and end of each succeeding 
day : sitting eagerly down and rising hastily 
from table, without so much as once mentioning 
the name of their gracious benefactor : using 
words in familiar conversation and repeating 
improbabilities as facts, which, if not a direct 
breach of the fourth Commandment, are, at 
the least, not such as become the Gospel of 



MORTON CUM HACCONBY. 17 

Christ ? However insignificant these and such 
offences separately considered may appear in 
our own eye, still, in an aggregate sense, they 
undoubtedly constitute a very important part 
in the general failings of Christians. When I 
reflect on the consequences of that solemn ac- 
count, which we must all one day give before 
the righteous judgement of Gad : more espe- 
cially, when I, intrusted for a few years with 
your spiritual things: the notoriety of these 
defects strikes me with very increased force- 
Sensibly impressed with such ideas, I, now, 
commit to your serious perusal, also, the fol- 
lowing pages, confidently hoping to instruct 
the unlearned and not to offend such as are 
better informed. Having composed the 
greater part with a view particularly to ground 
the young and improve the inexperienced in 
religious knowledge : I trust, that parents and 
masters will not content themselves merely 
with reading ; but, that they will, also, have 
the goodness to teach them affectionately to 
their children, and diligently to their servants: 
piously endeavouring to apply each to the 
particular occasion for which it is intended, 
thereby imitating, in this and in another re- 



IS TO THE INHABITANTS, &C. 

spect of infinitely more importance, the study 
of the Holy Scriptures : the very plan recom- 
mended by the celebrated Legislator of Israel, 
who, not satisfied with carefully committing 
to writing that book of laws received with pe- 
culiar solemnity from the Mouth of Omni- 
potence, on Sinai's top ; but, knowing by 
the melancholy experience of forty years, the 
infidelity of the people committed to his care : 
perceiving, upon various occasions, their pro- 
clivity to evil and to trample under foot the 
oracles of God, strictly charges the heads of fa- 
milies not to fail everyday, morning, and even- 
ing, to read some of the sacred writings to their 
children, to talk of them while sitting in their 
houses : while walking by the way, when they 
lay down and when they rose up : they shall be 
as the signet upon thine hand and frontlets be- 
tween thine eyes. Thou shalt write them upon 
the posts of thine house and on thy 3 gates. 

That my exertions may be crowned with 
success in promoting the comfort of your 
minds here, and be followed by the attainment 
of happiness hereafter, by every one of you, is 
the ardent hope of your faithful friend, 

S. H. 
Morton, Aug. 20, 1813. 



19 



COMMON PRAYER. 

IT is impossible to be present at the ce- 
lebration of divine worship without noticing 
various irregularities. Nor are these peculiar to 
lonely villages far remote from the regions of 
refinement. They are equally visible in the 
town and in the city, and no where more 
notorious than in the largest Churches. Far 
be it from my intention to give offence in any 
thing. If, however, with such an object in 
view, I am likely to incur the imputation of 
vanity or uncharitableness, I am neither afraid 
nor unwilling to offend in all. The notion, 
commonly, entertained of going to church is 
to address the Supreihe Being in prayer. 
This, it must be confessed, is true in the main, 
though incorrect in part, as will clearly appear 
by a candid examination of what is prescribed 
in our established form. 

Some, dreadful to think ! never enter any 
place to pay that public tribute of adoration, 



20 COMMON GRAYER. 

imperiously required, by God, of every human 
being, enjoined by the laws of the land, with 
a degree of liberality unknown to the gene- 
rality of other countries, and admired by 
every advocate for civil and religious liberty. 
Among such as do occasionally attend, how 
many conduct themselves in a manner sufficient 
to induce a stranger to suspect religion was 
not their business, sitting, you see, when they 
ought to kneel : silent when they ought to 
speak: speaking when they ought to hear; 
while others, it is to be remarked, are either 
dozing away their time in idleness, thinking 
on temporal affairs, whispering, gazing, or 
unkindly remarking the foibles of their neigh- 
bors, without considering that the service of 
the church, which can never be properly per- 
formed if not properly attended to, consists of 
parts spiritually differing from each other, as 
prayers, thanksgivings, instructions, com- 
mands, and exhortations. 

To caution the unwary, to instruct the ig- 
norant, and to remind the informed, the fol- 
lowing suggestions are offered to their notice. 

In going to the house of God on the solemn 
returning day, ponder your path before you 



COMMON PRAYER. 2i 

enter the place especially dedicated to the 
Deity ! Endeavor by the way to cherish such 
a sense of the divine perfections, as may rouse 
proper affections in your soul, and preserve a 
suitable deportment of your body through the 
different parts of the service. Coming late or 
departing soon, indicates, at least, an indeco- 
rous levity of mind, ill calculated to imbibe 
good impressions. While you are there, the 
external habiliments of your body are to cor- 
respond, strictly, with the internal feeling of 
your mind, and both must be suitable to the 
sanctity of the holy place, as well as to the 
glory of the divine presence. 

1. Prayer is an act of piety accompanied by 
words and gestures for the acquisition of some 
present or future blessing, which can never 
ascend as a grateful memorial before the most 
High without attention and humility. 

Consider^ then, before you ask, what it is 
you ask for, and in asking see that you do not 
ask amiss. 

2. Thanksgiving is a voluntary acknowledg- 
ment of what we owe to a daily providence. 
No one can surely fail to do this, who considers 
that the divine goodness is not limited to a 
B 5 



22 COMMON PRAYER. 

few, but, extendeth over all from the rising 
of the sun unto the going down thereof. 

3. Profession is a serious declaration of what 
we will do, or of what we will not do, ac- 
cording to the tenets of that body to which 
each belong. 

4. Every part of our Service is in a greater 
or less degree instructive ; but, the matchless 
doctrine of our blessed Lord's sermon upon 
the Mount, and the rules so admirably calcu- 
lated for the ceconomy of human life in the 
proverbs of Solomon, are instructions which, if 
properly attended to, will certainly lead us 
through Christ to everlasting righteousness. 

5. To command implies right and power on 
the side of the commander. Who can be said 
to possess these but that Almighty Being, who 
hath given us a law which shall not be broken ? 
Whether we consider the ten commandments 
only, whether we extend our attention to 
the diverse precepts generally interspersed 
throughout the pages of Holy Writ, the most 
implicit obedience is indispensably required, 
to preserve us blameless unto the coming of 
our Lord Jesus Christ. 



COMMON PRAYER. 23 

6. If an Apostle, who witnessed the very 
miracles, which Jesus did, could so far forget 
himself as to deny his Lord and Master : if the 
disciples, who were in the habit of receiving 
Heavenly doctrines from his mouth, required 
continual admonitions, more needful surely the 
caution, now. We are, accordingly, by pub- 
lic exhortations, excited in a public form, to 
a proper performance of our duty publicly. 

From these general remarks, I shall be ex- 
cused in descending to more minute particu- 
lars on the book of common prayer, par- 
ticularly intended for the use of such in that 
state of life as have no similar opportunity of 
improving themselves in this branch of their 
Christian calling. /^^ r -2t 



COMING INTO CHURCH. 

The universal tenor of the Holy Scriptures 
assures us, that God is present at all times, 
and in all places : that He intimately observes 
the actions of mankind 4 ; but, on the Sab- 
bath Day, which all nations enlightened by 
true religion, invariably dedicate to his pe- 



2,4 COMING INTO CHURCH. 

culiar service, more especially when two or 
three are gathered together in his name, our 
blessed Lord hath promised to be in the midst. 
His word never faileth. Thoroughly assured 
of this, every one rich or poor, will always 
endeavor to come to church decently attired, 
and arriving at his pew or seat, will fall meekly 
on his knees and covering his face gently with 
his hand, as utterly unworthy to look up in the 
divine presence, will immediately offer up 
some such pious and silent ejaculation as this, 
imploring God to assist him with his grace 
throughout the ensuing service. 

Assist me, O most merciful God, in my en* 
deavors to behave myself here in thy glorious 
presence with unfeigned reverence and pious 
fear : may the words of my mouth and the me- 
ditations of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, 
through the merits of my Saviour Jesus Christ, 
Amen. 



25 



>/ 



BEGINNING. 



The doors shut, every one in his place, si- 
lence obtained, and all things set in order : 
the congregation, after the example of their 
minister, rising as heirs together of the grace 
of life, two of the eleven passages from Scrip- 
ture are audibly read by the former, to remind 
the latter of their sins, and of forgiveness on 
condition of their repentance. 

Attend, therefore ! Ponder them in thine 
heart ! Esteem them as instructions from on 
High, proceeding originally from God, and, 
now, repeated by his minister, purposely, on 
your account ! 



EXHORTATION. 

From the cold and hasty manner, in which 
this is sometimes passed over, the hearer is led 
to infer that the reader is mistaken both as to 
the sense and purport of the whole. Dearly 



26 EXHORTATION. 

beloved Brethren ! Here should ensue a pause 
of considerable length, inviting an awful reve- 
rence, the better to prepare the audience by 
the following affectionate address to the solemn 
duty of the All-hallowed Day. Instead of 
this, the reader is too apt to run right on to 
the next sentence, with which it is not at all 
connected: proceeding forward and paying 
too little attention to time, sense, or ac- 
cent, without producing the good effects, 
which, from a judicious mode, might reason- 
ably be expected, he soon gets to the end. 
No part should be repeated, as is frequently 
done by the mistaken hearer. Every sentence 
and every word thereof, be assured, ought to 
be tacitly attended to, because one and all are 
exceedingly well calculated to prepossess the 
mind with a hisrh sense of the divine goodness 
in permitting mankind, thus, to assemble and 
to arrange their thoughts for what next ensues. 
Let these appropriate sentences and words 
enter so seriously into your hearts, as to induce 
every one of you to behave yourselves lowly 
and reverently in God's sight. 



27 



CONFESSION. 



Following the minister in the exact, timely- 
repetition of every sentence with a deliberate, 
plaintive suspended voice bordering closely 
upon resignation, and laying a particular empha- 
sis upon that attribute, merciful, whereby alone 
we presume to supplicate his goodness, be 
careful to call your own ways to remembrance, 
considering attentively what you have done, 
which you ought not, and what you have left 
undone, which you ought to have done, in 
such manner, as is likely to produce amend- 
ment of life, pardon of your sins, comfort 
here and happiness hereafter. 

Reject not then the opportunity publicly 
proferred you every returning Sabbath Day. 
There is no man living that sinneth not. Con- 
fess your sins, for God is faithful and just to 
forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all 
unrighteousness. Seeing the incitements to 
your duty, lose not sight of the reward an- 
nexed to the performance of it. 



28 



ABSOLUTION. 



The minister standing reads this cheerful 
part of the service with a degree of confident 
humility to his flock, continuing in awful si- 
lence, meekly kneeling upon their knees, un- 
der a firm persuasion that if they/ relying on 
God's mercy through Christ, do heartily re- 
pent, they will be absolved from all their sins, 
just as surely as if the Deity himself declared 
it, for his minister is, now, commanded to 
make known his good pleasure to the people. 

Relying, then, on the promises of God, 
take courage, now, in the day of salvation, 
and persevere unto the end. 



lord's prayer. 

The congregation just absolved, are, next, 
emboldened to unite in the audible repetition 
of that short though comprehensive form, 
which our blessed Lord hath taught us. 

Whoever will compare the infirmities of the 
human with the perfections of the divine 



LORD'S PRAYER. 29 

nature, and consider the importance of every 
part of this inimitable prayer, will truly de- 
plore the careless manner, in which it is too 
commonly repeated. 



PREPARATION. 

The four following sentences must be taken 
in a figurative sense and pronounced in rising 
strains of chearful piety. Their design is, 
evidently, to inspire the congregation with 
that true spirit of devotion, without which 
they are justly accounted dead, who, with 
cold indifference, presume to address their 
Maker. The mind so prepared, and the con- 
gregation rising all at once, the minister, with 
a voice somewhat increasing, attributes, as is 
most due, glory to the three distinct persons 
of the Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, 
to which the people unanimously assent by the 
following appropriate and pious answer, As 
it was in the beginning, &c. The pastor, 
again, briefly exhilarates his flock, Praise ye 
the Lord, to which they instantly reply, The 
Lord's name be praised. 



30 



PSALMS. 



To the above glorious end, the psalms, a 
compilation of religious and moral sentiments, 
pleasing to the most refined capacity, and in- 
telligible to the meanest, admirably calculated 
to guide us through the present as well as to 
render us meet to be partakers of the inherit- 
ance of the Saints in light in a future world, 
are to be repeated in alternate verse with the 
Gloria Patri at the end of each, to remind us 
of that divine self-same Being, three persons 
in one God, to whose honor each was com- 
posed. 

Make us, so sensible of these thy inestima- 
ble benefits, O Lord, that we let slip no op- 
portunity thus to praise thee. 

LESSONS. 

Since certain portions of Scripture are se- 
lected for popular edification, whether from 
the Old or New Testament it matters not, 
mark them ! Like your ancestors by Mount 
Sinai, and the Disciples by their Saviour's 



LESSONS. 31 

side ! Learn them and inwardly digest them 
in such manner as, during the six succeeding 
days, you may become doers of the word, not 
hearers only, deceiving your ownselves. 



HYMNS. 

After the Lessons we re-assume our adora- 
tions in the cheerful repetition of particular 
hymns. 

CKEED. 

With one heart and one voice we are all 
next invited to a solemn pronunciation of the 
creed, not after the manner of a prayer, but 
as a steady profession of our faith, sentence 
after sentence, without wavering. 



SENTENCES BEFORE THE COLLECTS. 

Not sufficient of ourselves to do any thing 
as of ourselves, but our sufficiency being of 
God, we are accordingly incited to invoke his 



32 SENTENCES BEFORE THE COLLECTS. 

special presence previous to the collects, 
wherein we unite in beseeching the divine 
goodness for ourselves, for the king, for the 
royal family, for the church, for the high 
court of parliament, and for all mankind. 

Fail not to let the fervency of your prayers 
be adapted to the variety and magnitude of 
the things you pray for. 



LITANY. 

Here the solemn duty of prayer is re-as- 
sumed in a different, and, if possible, in a 
more impressive manner, which includes every 
thing we ought to ask for ourselves or desire 
for others. As at the end of every preceding 
form, assent is given by the congregation by 
Amen, which signifies So be it : so in the li- 
tany, the people are required to answer for 
themselves accordingly, as Good Lord de- 
liver us from the evil just mentioned, or, 
We beseech thee to hear us good Lord 
concerning the blessings recommended to us. 

It is to be remarked that the authors of our 
established form have again contributed, in a 



LITANY. 33 

most essential degree, to the relief of our spi- 
ritual necessities, by an additional intersper- 
sion of prayers and ejaculations throughout, t 
enliven our attention and to animate our piety. 
While the minister is, thus, engaged in the 
discharge of his duty, take heed unto your- 
selves that ye be not found wanting in your se- 
veral vocations. The Lord is at hand. Be, 
during these hallowed moments, careful for 
nothing, except to continue instant in prayer ; 
meekly kneeling upon your knees, not giving 
way to any irreverent thoughts, and unbecom- 
ing postures, as is too often done by the in- 
considerate and prophane : neither speaking 
aloud nor muttering to the annoyance of 
others ; on the other hand, remember, that 
coming to Church to adore the common Father 
of mankind, to do it with such lowly and so- 
lemn seriousness, as becometh the children of 
light, humble creatures speaking to their great 
Creator with words and thoughts perfectly 
suitable to the names, and works, duly attri- 
buted to God in each. 



34 



GENERAL THANKSGIVING. 

In the previous service we pray for all things 
necessary both for ourselves and others. It 
is, at length, deemed fit to give thanks for all 
mankind, and to remind us that if the divine 
goodness has been displayed in any particular 
instance, either towards any one of us or our 
country, to notice it properly, as directed, in 
the proper place. 

Above all, let us endeavor to elevate our 
minds to the utmost height of sound piety, at 
the redemption of the world by our Lord Je- 
sus Christ, for the means of grace and for the 
hope of glory. What greater blessing could 
enter into the heart of man to conceive ? what 
greater instance of his goodness could a boun- 
teous Providence bestow ? 

Cease not ever, then, formally and fervently 
to acknowledge this not only in your hearts ; 
but, by the general tenor of your lives. 



35 



CONCLUSION. 



We are, lastly, favored with a form diffe- 
rent from all the rest, the prayer of St. Chry- 
sostom, addressed directly to Christ himself, 
comprehending all we have yet desired, or 
wish for still to make us happy here or here- 
after : which ended, the minister closes the 
daily service with this affectionate benedic- 
tion : 

The Grace, &c. 



COMMUNION SERVICE. 

After what I have, already, taken upon me 
to recommend : it will be necessary to add little 
more than that the sam£ lowliness of mind, 
the same purity of heart, and the same fer- 
vency of devotion are equally required in the 
present as in the discharge of your previous 
duty. Permit me, however, giving no offence 
in any thing, to remind you of an error, into 
which very many have unintentionally fallen, 



3fr COMMUNION SERVICE. 

which is a want of external reverence, in your 
corporal deportment, arising, no doubt, from 
a want of thought, while the minister in God'g 
name, standing, to give the greater effect, 
pronounces audibly and deliberately the Ten 
commandments. These, as some amongst you 
seem to suppose, are not prayers to be re- 
peated, but divine mandates to be heard, in 
silence, with peculiar diffidence, upon your 
knees, because, being unstable in all our 
ways, we are liable to offend continually in 
every one, and, because, we ought to ask pre- 
sent pardon for the past and grace to help in 
future. 



FINAL BLESSING. 

It is, scarcely possible to pronounce this 
with too much fervour on the one hand, or to 
hear it with sufficient sincerity, on the other. 

O God, who in former ages, hast caused 
the Holy Scriptures to be written for our 
learning : who, at sundry times, by signs, 
and wonders, and mighty deeds to our fathers 
hast condescended to interpose in favor of 



FINAL BLESSING. 37 

thy Church and People. In these latter days 
hast given an additional instance of thy love 
towards mankind, by permitting the Book of 
Common Prayer to be promulgated for their 
instruction. Grant that we, holding these thy 
gracious benefits in continual remembrance, 
when the fullness of time shall come, may be 
found acceptable in thy sight, through Jesus 
Christ our Lord. Amen. 



GOING OUT OF CHURCH. 

As soon as the public service is finished, no 
one should presume, hastily, to quit his place, 
to say, or to pay the least attention to any 
thing whatever, until he hath fervently ac- 
knowledged, his Creator's goodness for the 
opportunity just, now, afforded him of en- 
riching his mind with the invaluable treasures 
of wisdom from above, and seriously implored 
the Father of Mercies to give him grace, -so 
that his future actions may be regulated by his 
present professions. 

O! gracious Lord! who hast kindly added 
one more Sabbath unto the days of my life ; 
C 



38 GOING OUT OF CHURCH. 

who hast favored me with another opportu- 
nity of acquiring a more extensive knowledge 
of thy law: accept, I sincerely pray, of this 
imperfect tribute of my obedience, and grant 
that I and all thy people here, may be not 
only hearers, but doers of the word, for our 
blessed Redeemer's sake. Amen. 



MORNING. 

Time and all things being in the hands of 
God : no man, who entertains the smallest re- 
gard either for his temporal or eternal welfare, 
can seriously and conscientiously pass over 
the beginning or ending of any one single day, 
without returning thanks for the past, and im- 
ploring a blessing on the future from that 
great and good Being, whose tender mercies 
are over all his works ; but, as few or none in 
the low and laborious walks of life have leisure 
for long prayer, the following short ejacula- 
tions, therefore, are humbly offered to tfceir 
notice. 

O thou, who neither slumberest nor sleep- 
est! I heartily, thank thee for the blessings 



MORNING. 39 

bestowed upon me this night past, and, I ear- 
nestly pray thee to enable me to act well 
throughout the ensuing day : bless my going 
out and my coming in now, and evermore, for 
Jesus Christ's sake. Amen. 
Our Father, &c. 



EVENING. 

Having endeavored to the best of your abi- 
lity to discharge the various duties of the day 
in that state of life, unto which it hath pleased 
the good Providence of God to call you : whe- 
ther in the dependent condition of a servant, 
or, in the more important station of a master, 
never fail to call your own ways to remem- 
brance, carefully considering what you have 
done that you ought not, and what you have 
not done that you ought to have done, and re- 
tiring from the noise of the busy world, con- 
clude the evening with the following prayer. 

I am come, O Lord, to the close of this day: 

I know that I am so much the nearer my latter 

end. As I, now, go to my bed, I am sure, 

one day to go to my grave. As Thou hast 

C 2 



40 EVENING. 

led me safely through the dangers and diffi- 
culties of the day, so preserve me and my fa- 
mily, O Thou, to whom the darkness and 
light are both alike, amidst the perils and ter- 
rors of the night : let it be thy good pleasure 
to refresh me with such seasonable rest, that 
I may rise on the morrow more fit for the du- 
ties of my calling : into thy hands I commend 
my spirit, through Jesus Christ our Lord, to 
whom, with Thee and the Holy Ghost, be all 
honor and glory, now and for evermore. 
Amen. 

Our Father, &c. 



BEFORE MEAT. 

God is the author of every good and of every 
perfect gift. To Him alone is to be attributed 
the agreeable changes of summer and winter, 
of day and night, of heat and cold, of light 
and darkness : He, the general and bountiful 
parent of us all, maketh his sun to rise on the 
evil and on the good. He purifieth the air with 
his thunders and his lightnings : He bloweth 
with his wind and the waters flow : He maketh 



BEFORE MEAT. 4l 

the grass to grow upon the mountains, and 
filleth the valleys thereof with the green herb, 
and with all things conducive to the general 
happiness of man. Who, then, can be so 
senseless and so ungrateful to his supreme be- 
nefactor, so careless and so unmindful of thj^k-—' 
wants of his poor fellow-creatures, as not to 
address the Sovereign giver of all good things, 
at the beginning and end of every meal, in 
some such manner as this : 

O Lord ! who spreadest our table with all 
manner of store, make us grateful for these 
thy blessings, and mindful of the necessities of 
others, through Jesus Christ. Amen. 



APTER MEAT. 

Having, thus, partaken of the divine 
bounty, let us not, like the Israelites, by our 
ingratitude, provoke the heavy wrath of God. 
May neither the hurry of business, nor the 
love of pleasure, ever, seduce us to omit: 

For this favour, O Lord, praised be thy 
holy name ! Amen. 



42 



SACRAMENTS. 



As certain rites belonged to the Old Testa- 
ment, so God Almighty in his wisdom, hath 
thought fit to annex others, also, to the New, 
called sacraments. These holy ceremonies 
serve for bonds of obedience, obligations for 
the exercise of charity, preservatives from 
sin, memorials of the benefits we receive from 
Christ, and, are, moreover, the real condi- 
tions required of those, whether rich or poor, 
who expect the emanations of divine favour. 
Though God is a Being, whom no man hath 
seen nor can see, still upon particular occa- 
sions, He Causeth man, by plain intimations, 
to notice his existence, as Moses in the burn- 
ing bush : the Israelites on Sinai, and the peo- 
ple in the days of Elijah : the infirm, by the 
periodical effect of the waters at Bethesda, 
and the Apostles by the cloven tongues notify- 
ing the effusion of the Holy Spirit, which they, 
by other means, could not so clearly distin- 
guish. Just so with respect to sacraments. 
Grace is a consequent derived through them 



SACRAMENTS. 43 

directly, from God, not as we are apt to ima- 
gine from any quality natural or supernatural 
belonging peculiarly to the ordinances them- 
selves : which are, in fact, no more than reli- 
gious instruments of salvation, solemn duties 
of worship containing no internal excellence. 
Unless, therefore, they are performed just as 
the great author and finisher of our faith re- 
quireth, they are profitable for nothing. On 
the contrary, if taken, after his precept and 
example, the consequences, if not immedi- 
ately, will be, without doubt, ultimately be- 
neficial. 

Christ having ordained, in his church, two 
sacraments only as generally necessary to sal- 
vation, which are baptism and the supper of 
the Lord, these, therefore, 1 shall briefly con- 
sider, in order that you, for whose sake these 
pages were, in a great measure, purposely 
written, may not only receive the grace of 
God, but, receiving it, may receive it not in 
vain. 



44 



BAPTISM. 



This is a rite whereby persons are initiated 
into the profession of Christianity. In the 
primitive ages it was performed according to 
the signification of tire word, by the entire 
submersion of the convert. From its original 
institution by our blessed Lord, unto this day, 
different modes have been adopted by different 
nations, wherein, perhaps, the variations of 
the climate have had full as much influence as 
the humors of mankind. Without entering 
into the peculiarities of each, it is sufficient to 
know that upwards of ten centuries have 
passed away since the mild manner of sprink- 
ling the forehead of the tender infant with the 
finger dipt in water has been, generally, pur- 
sued in this kingdom, accompanied with this 
affectionate and striking declaration: I bap- 
tize thee in the name of the Father, and of the 
Son, and of the Holy Ghost. 

It being necessary to the common inter- 
course of society, independent of any reli- 
gious consideration, that its numerous mem- 



BAPTISM. 45 

bers should be designated by different names, 
our ancestors, therefore, at the very dawn of 
Christianity, began the practice of naming the 
child, when it was devoted to Almighty God, 
which, without any variation in this respect, 
has been continued regularly down to us, 
through every succeeding age, and ought to 
remind us, daily, of a most important circum- 
stance, that on our first entrance into the 
Christian church, we each of us become 
through those kind friends, who voluntarily 
undertake to promise and vow for us, entitled, 
together with our adventitious name, to cer- 
tain privileges on condition of discharging 
certain duties. This solemn engagement so 
made for us, at a time we were unable to do it 
for ourselves, we are solemnly bound, imme- 
diately after episcopal confirmation, per- 
sonally, to undertake. To encourage the 
performance of the latter, the former are first 
preferred to the notice of the youthful miad. 
What these privileges, and what these duties, 
severally, are, and what they distinctly mean, 
no considerate person can be at a loss to know : 
because they are plainly set forth in the unri- 
valled catechism of our church. He that 
c 5 



46 BAPTISM. 

runs may read. No one, the most illiterate* 
can mistake their meaning. Any one, " so in- 
clined," cannot but know, that to them, who, 
by patient continuance in well-doing, seek for 
glory, and honor, and immortality, are pro- 
mised the blessings of eternal life ; on the 
contrary, against them, that are contentious 
and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighte- 
ousness, are denounced indignation and wrath, 
tribulation and anguish upon every soul of 
man that doeth evil, on the Jew first, and also 
upon the Gentile. For with God there is no 
respect of persons. 

The point, then, on which I, here, wish to 
fix your attention is, that to baptism, a cove- 
nant between God and man, voluntary on one 
side and obligatory on the other, certain privi- 
leges are conditionally annexed, to the enjoy- 
ment of which no one can have, even, the 
shadow of a title, one moment longer than He 
continues to perform the obligations which 
appertain unto it. Be assured that unless we 
persevere in such a line of obedient conduct 
through life, neither hath the divine goodness 
engaged, nor is it consistent with the holiness 
of his nature, to bestow such benefits upon us, 



BAPTISM. 47 

nor, indeed, shall we be capable of enjoying 
them. 

May you never lose sight of that supreme 
goodness, which you see begins, thus, early, 
to provide for the future happiness of man- 
kind. May you, who are parents, endeavor 
to bring up your children in the nurture and 
admonition of the Lord. May you, who are 
children, honor your father and mother, that 
it may be well with you. May none of us 
neglect to do, for ourselves, what was pro- 
mised in our infant days, and, may we all, in 
all things, do according to thy word, in full per- 
suasion that if we be not wanting to ourselves, 
Thou, O Almighty Lord God, who hast begun 
a good work in us, will perform it until the day 
of Jesus Christ thy son our saviour. Amen. 



LORD S SUPPER. 

As by baptism we are admitted into the pri- 
vileges of the Christian church : so by the 
supper of the Lord we secure a continuation 
of them. The latter being, in no respect, less 
necessary to our individual welfare, though 



48 lord's supper. 

frequently neglected, than the former, which 
is generally, adopted, I shall, here, briefly, 
endeavor to remove a prejudice, which has 
long continued to deter many well-disposed 
persons from participating in this hallowed 
rite. It arises from a small, though in its 
consequences an important error in translating 
the New Testament into our native language. 
What is, here, improperly called damnation, 
the Apostle styles judgement, temporal only, 
certainly not relative to everlasting punish- 
ment. This appears by his express declara- 
tion in the 3 2d verse of the same chapter, 1 1 
Cor. 1. which decidedly proves that the judge- 
ment called by the translators damnation, is of 
a temporal kind, purposely intended to save in- 
stead of consigning the offender to eternal 
condemnation. Had we not been, here, fa- 
vored with the authority of St. Paul, the plain 
dictates of sense unaided by revelation, are 
sufficient, in this instance, at least, to direct 
our steps. God in all his dealings with man- 
kind is never extreme to mark what is done 
amiss. " He acts not by partial but by general 
laws 6 ." "For man it is to err 7 ." From fal- 
lible creatures infallibility is not to be ex- 



lord's supper. 49 

pected. Perfection belongeth only to celes- 
tial beings. How, then, can any one suppose 
that the Almighty, in this particular, will deviate 
from the kind tenor of his providence ? Be 
assured, that, if in your several vocations and 
capacities, from time to time, you continue to 
do your best according to what the Gospel ge- 
nerally enjoins, the Holy Spirit will neither 
leave nor forsake you. Thus guarded, and 
with a certain prospect of obtaining what is 
promised to them, who faint not in well doing, 
be not discouraged by the aforesaid striking 
error from partaking, at the long accustomed 
seasons of the year, with your well-disposed 
neighbours of the communion, before the Al- 
tar, and in the presence of God — a commu- 
nion not with God only, but with one another 
— a communion, which the compassionate 
Savior of mankind, on the last solemn even- 
ing of his sacred life, instituted for its sake. 
Aware of what was to happen on the morrow, 
he sat down, in an upper room, with a chosen 
few, who, during three years of his public mi- 
nistry in Judea, had faithfully participated in 
every vicissitude, and took an affectionate 
farewell not merely by inviting, but by kindly 



50 lord's supper. 

enjoining them, Do this in remembrance of 
me. 

The serious reader will do well to remark 
that this gracious act was, purposely, per- 
formed amidst the preparation for impending 
death. Under what impressions, then, more 
striking or more proper, after his example, 
can we, or ought we to consider it, than a 
preparative against the various sufferings in- 
cident to our mortal state, and above all, 
against each our dying-day, whether likely to 
be near or distant ? 

The sentiments to be entertained, then, pre- 
vious to our approaching the Lord's table, are 
piety towards God, forgiveness of injuries, and 
charity to all mankind. It is an act of the 
purest devotion, implying a lively sense of 
God's mercy in our redemption by the sacrifice 
of his Son : the resignation of ourselves and 
of all our concerns into the hands of that great, 
and wise, and good Being whom it is our 
duty, always, to reverence and obey, that om- 
nipotent guardian, in whom we ought to con- 
fide. 

You see with what impressions, and with 
what views, it is necessary to approach the 



51 

table of our blessed Lord, and how much de- 
pends on the right application of the means 
which he expects us to adopt. Rely not too 
much on the mercies of God, nor on the me- 
rits of his Son, for, not, even, the regular re- 
petition of this most solemn institution can or 
ought to afford any certain hopes of happiness, 
unless these very hopes are, hereafter, 
strengthened by the succeeding course of a 
godly, righteous, and sober life, unto the end. 

Upon the whole, if every circumstance past, 
present, and future, is properly considered, 
it will be impossible to imagine whether omni- 
potence itself could bestow a greater blessing 
upon mankind. 

O bless the Lord and forget not all his bene- 
fits, whose good effects will abide for ever, in 
Heavefr, with the faithful followers of his son 
Jesus Christ. Amen. 



LORD S PRAYER. 

A form seasonable always, general always, 
and peculiar always, as every part of it must 
convince every one, who seriously considers it, 



52 lord's prayer. 

O my Father ! Grant that we may each and 
all, do so daily unto our lives end through the 
merits of thy Son, its author and finisher of 
our Faith. Amen. 



CREED. 

This is an index comprehending the most 
striking particulars of religion, which every 
one, in this our day, is supposed to believe. 

Three are used in the English Church. 

The Nicene, following the communion, 
was composed by the council of Nice, in the 
Minor-Asia, A. D. 325, to counteract the he- 
resy of Arius. 

The Athanasian, supposed to have been 
written long after, either is or ought to be 
read 13 times every year. 

The Apostles', so called, because they have 
been supposed the authors. Whether it was 
transmitted down from those holy persons, im- 
mediately, to us: whether it was the entire 
production of any intervening age, or whe- 
ther it has been altered, in part, from its ori- 
ginal formation, we need not be solicitous to 



CREED. 53 

know : since it is, beyond controversy, a very 
antient composition, and, a most unexception- 
able summary of the Christian faith. Ought 
it not, then, to be, often, repeated : repeated, 
indeed, with that seriousness, as though each 
time was to be the last ? Every part relating to 
this material branch of divine service being so 
frequently explained in sermons and so dif- 
fusely treated in a variety of books, it may, I 
trust and hope it will, by God's grace, suffice 
to quote the words of Father Chrysostom, and 
to close with those of St. Paul, "continually, 
therefore, revolving and recounting these 
things, let us purify our life and make it 
bright*." 

May the God of peace sanctify you wholly : 
and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and 
body be preserved blameless unto the coming 
of our Lord Jesus Christ. > Amen. 



THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

These were delivered by the Creator of the 
world to Moses from the top of Sinai on two 
tables of stone : four on the former enforcing 



54 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

the Duty of Man to God : six on the latter* 
containing our obligations to one another, 
which, like the Creed, being fully detailed in 
a variety of tracts and sermons, it would be 
superfluous, here, to descend to particular ex- 
planations, also. To pass, however, a sub- 
ject of such individual importance without some 
general remarks, on the other hand, would be 
equally improper. To comprehend their full 
extent, it is requisite to observe, that as the 
one is an epitome of the Christian's faith, 
so the other are clearly meant for a compen- 
dium of their duty, who, in these last days, are, 
as the Jews at the original promulgation, the 
Israel of God : that a great deal more is im- 
plied under each separate head than is directly 
expressed : that there is, in fact, not one tit- 
tle of the moral law, but what flows from this 
holy fountain : that had the Almighty thought 
fit to increase them, had they been more dif- 
fusely or more concisely expressed, many 
would have wanted inclination to read, others 
capacity to comprehend them : that if their 
number had been less, or the sense com- 
pressed into a narrower space, few in compa- 
rison of the great body of mankind could have 



THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 55 

understood them : that to the young and in- 
considerate part of the community the ten- 
dency of the divine precepts may seem, per- 
haps, at first sight, inadequate to the purpose 
for which they were distinctly intended, 
and to be pointed, as it were, at ten crimes 
only, instead of every defect in human con- 
duct. This objection, under which a " count- 
less multitude" of transgressors are too prone to 
shelter, will cease in considering that under 
each separate mandate, every inferior crime, 
every minor offence, and every little foible of 
a similar kind is collaterally forbidden, while 
the opposite duty, with its corresponding vir- 
tue, is strictly enjoined : that if we are com- 
manded to abstain from any thing, we ought 
to rest assured it is detrimental to our nature, 
and therefore the divine law-giver expects us 
cautiously to avoid every avenue and every 
temptation leading to the perpetration thereof: 
that all we are bound to do ourselves, we are 
also bound to persuade others to do likewise, 
and all we are bound not to do, we are equally 
bound to dehort others from doing. 



56 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 



Though we do not believe the existence of 
a plurality of Gods, still, if excessive avarice, 
if inordinate ambition, if an immoderate love 
of pleasure, or if any one bad passion so far 
takt s possession of our heart, as to seclude a 
proper sense of the Almighty : are we, in all 
these cases, more than hearers of the word ? 
One Being, perfect in every perfection, i$ 
sufficient to create and govern all things in 
Heaven and earth. It is wicked to think of 
more. Justly are we commanded to have one 
God only : that is to endeavor to deport 
ourselves in a manner becoming the purity of 
the divine nature, and as far as in us lieth 
suitably to the infirmity of the human. 

II. 

These words fully express the earnest pur- 
pose of the Almighty to preserve his chosen 
from the idolatrous corruptions, to which the 
Egyptians, among whom they were in bond- 
age, were addicted. 



THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 57 

May their example, which is set forth to 
warn, never cease to warn us, lest, by wor- 
shipping a molten image we turn the glory of 
God into the similitude of any figure, and be- 
come in time, after the transgression of our 
forefathers, in all things too superstitious. 



III. 

To take the name of the Lord thy God in 
vain is not merely to use it in frivolous con- 
versation, and immoral discourse : but, the 
prohibition strikes at a much darker shade of 
sin — the asseveration of a falsehood. When 
any one presumes to do this in the deliberate 
process of an oath : it, then, rises into an 
enormous crime, indeed. With such, no one's 
life : no one's character : no one's property, 
is safe. Justly are they abhorred in this world. 
Not being held guiltless in the divine eye, 
they will, most, assuredly, without a timely 
repentance, be punished in the next. So 
they, who speak the truth in Christ and lie 
not, are encouraged, by a variety of passages 
in scripture, to expect a sure reward, though 



58 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

I know not whether it is displayed any where 
more satisfactorily, than in the animated lan- 
guage of the 15 th Psalm. 

Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle ? or 
who shall rest upon thy holy hill ? he that 
walketh uprightly and worketh righteousness, 
and speaketh the truth from his heart. 



IV, 



A brother, or sister, or any other relative 
not specially enumerated among those en- 
joined to do no manner of work, on the Sab- 
bath Day, may, inconsiderately, presume, on 
this account, at first sight to claim exemption 
from this salutary mandate. Can any one 
possessed of a reasonable soul, the least con- 
versant in Scripture, seriously observe the 
strict manner in which the day is protected, as 
well as the good reasons assigned for such pro- 
tection, and yet hesitate one moment to believe 
that all men of every age and degree are not 
equally and firmly bound not only not to tres- 
pass,^ the least, on its sacred hours, by unneces- 
sary acts of business or pleasure, but, to keep 



THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 59 

them holy, and to honour in common their 
common Maker ? 



V. 



Long life in the delightful country of Ca- 
naan was considered by the Israelites as the 
source of temporal prosperity. Under the 
same striking figure we Christians, also, 
are taught to expect every kind of bless- 
ing, the converse of which is, almost sure, 
sooner or later, in some shape or other, to 
overtake filial disobedience, even, in this 
world. 



VI. 



Few, or none, are so ignorant as not to see 
the full force of this necessary precept, or so 
unfeeling as not to shudder at the very thought 
of the dreadful crime it tends to prevent, with- 
out sufficiently considering, that while it com- 
mands them not to deprive one another of life, 
the source of every thing valuable to man, it 
indirectly forbids all personal injuries either to 



60 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

the mind or body, which may tend to rende r 
the period of our being less tolerable, or to 
shorten its duration. 



VII. 

The unhappy consequences, which gene- 
rally ensue from adultery are too manifestly 
injurious to the dearest interests of society to 
need any further comment, than that every sin 
of a similar tendency is indirectly forbidden 
here. 

VIII. 

The protection of individual property is so 
highly essential to the general welfare, that 
dishonesty, in every shape, is either discoun- 
tenanced or punished in the world which now 
is, and, unless he that stole takes care to steal 
no more, will be remembered in that which is 
to come. Under these strong prohibitory words, 
Thou shalt not steal, a variety of bad ac- 
tions rising one above another high in guilt, 
springing from the same impure source, and 



THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 6i 

ultimately amounting to much the same thing, 
are forbidden also : as, unfair dealing in trade, 
over-reaching conduct in business, or, de- 
ceitful schemes in rational pleasure, too nu- 
merous I* recite and too obvious to require it. 



IX. 

The crime, against which these words are 
particularly pointed, is false testimony upon 
oath before a magistrate or in a court of jus- 
tice, which may be done in diverse ways : as, 
pretending to know more or less than we really 
do: artfully endeavoring to lessen the weight 
of what is likely to operate against us, and de- 
signedly magnifying every circumstance in our 
favor: asserting or denying with greater po- 
sitiveness than is authorised by the plain state 
of the case. This mandate seems to have been 
issued to protect the preceding four : for whose 
life, whose happiness, or whose property, 
would be safe, if left exposed to the licentious 
injuries of an unbridled tongue? It is not li- 
mited to the above sin alone ; but, it strikes at 
D 



62 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

the very root of every untrue and defamatory 
report, purposely propagated to the prejudice 
of others. 



X. 



To desire a comfortable portion of the good 
things intended for us by the kind author of 
our being, is natural and right. To wish for 
more than we, already, have, may be, in a 
great variety of cases, so far from sin, that to 
endeavor to improve our lot by a steady 
course of virtuous industy, is a duty highly in- 
cumbent upon all such, whose state in life ad- 
mits it. All desires, then, are not indiscri- 
minately forbidden; but, such, and such only, 
as have an intemperate tendency, which was 
the case of Ahab with respect to Naboth's 
vineyard. For a subject to sell his patrimonial 
property was contrary, to the Jewish law. The 
possession, therefore, of the coveted object 
would have ill become the dignity of the king. 
On that account, the desire was displeasing in 
the eye of the Almighty. From hence we may 
draw this inference, upon which, I trust, we 
may confidently rest, viz. 



THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 6S 

Whenever we set our minds on what can- 
not fairly be obtained, we are said to covet. 
We break the last commandment, which 
seems intended by its divine author for the 
protection of the preceding nine. Our con- 
duct can never be correct until the source 
from whence it springs is pure, also : and as 
our blessed Lord hath assured us that none but 
the pure in heart should see God : may I, and 
3 7 ou, and all, and each of us never cease to 
say in the holy language of our Church, Lord 
have mercy upon us and write all these thy 
laws in our hearts, we beseech thee, 



GOVERNMENT OF THE MIND. 

Before we can expect to act rightly, we 
must learn to think justly, — is an axiom, which, 
I trusty no one will dispute. Were any one 
to ask what the body and mind are, the answer 
would be — the former, though differently or- 
ganized from that of other creatures: though 
consisting of different degrees of organization 
in itself, differs neither primarily nor ulti- 
mately from common terrestrial matter — the 
D 2 



64 GOVERNMENT OF THE MIND. 

latter is an immaterial something, which de- 
notes an accountable and rational being. It is 
to the soul, like time to eternity, immediately 
present with us. Its powers are two-fold, 
partly active and partly passive. 

Active in the ability to select from the infi- 
nitude of objects, within its reach, such and 
such only : to relinquish them, and, with 
promptness to fix upon others. 

Passive, when so oppressed by any heavy 
load of evil, elevated with unexpected good, 
or through slothful and vicious habits so riveted 
to some pleasing or painful particular, as not, 
without a considerable degree of laudable exer- 
tion, to be able to recover its activity, to turn 
and amuse itself with others. Absolute per- 
fection, and uninterrupted delight, are not the 
present lot of man. It is much the same with 
our corporal as with our mental concern* If 
each have their troubles and diseases : for each 
a careful Providence has provided comforts, 
and antidotes : medicine to heal all manner of 
sickness of the body : religion, if not, always, 
to cure, at least, certainly sufficient to alle- 
viate the diverse infirmities of the mind. 
From a stupid ignorance of ourselves, as well 



GOVERNMENT OF THE MIND. 65 

as from failing in the necessary duty of consi- 
deration, it comes to pass, that we see so 
many individuals lost, in the very prime of life, 
to the dearest interest of society, wretched 
within their own breasts, and, consequently, 
unworthy in the divine eye. The mind and 
the hand are each, if not equally, certainly 
very much under the governance of their re- 
spective agents, whose duty as well as interest 
it is to apply them both to the useful and honor- 
able affairs of life. We may not, perhaps, in 
this respect, always, be able to stand upright ; 
still, by the sincerity of our endeavors, and 
by the fervency of our prayers for divine as- 
sistance therein, much more may be effected 
towards the right government of our thoughts 
than we are* at first, aware of. Let any one, 
inclined to doubt this, consider — whether, at 
the dawn of every returning day, he is not, 
at liberty, and, whether he does not use that 
liberty in devoting his mental and corporal 
faculties to virtuous industry or to disgraceful 
idleness, to dissipation or to business, to so- 
briety or to intemperance — if he has a power 
to do it one day, he is able to do it another. 
For the self-same reason, the possibility of 



66 GOVERNMENT OF THE MIND. 

continuing in the same line of conduct for a 
week, for a month, for a year, or, " in few/* 
for any reasonably indefinite length of time 
may be admitted also. So, at length, what, 
at first, was, in either case, a difficult and 
unpleasant undertaking, becomes in process 
of time, an easy and familiar habit. It must 
not, however, be denied that events, which 
no degree of prudence can foresee or avert, 
are in every period, continually, turning up, 
at one time from the treachery of friends, at 
another, from the malevolence of enemies 
sufficient to baffle the shrewdest judgment and 
to ruffle the sweetest temper : that, in a course 
of years, too, occurrences of a providential 
nature, from the loss of our dearest relatives, as 
well as from the unexpected interposition of 
the divine arm, are sure to fall out, calculated 
to shake the strongest resolution, and to over- 
cast the brightest mind. 

Upon occasions of this serious cast, wise and 
good Christians never sit still, in useless silence, 
" to wail their loss," but, resigning them- 
selves to the will of Heaven, " chearly seek 
how to redress their harms, for what can- 
not be avoided, it is childish to lament or fear.'* 



GOVERNMENT OF THE MIND. 67 

Almighty Lord, who dost put into our minds 
good desires, grant that by thy special grace 
preventing us, we may bring the same to good 
effect, and shew it in the beauty of holiness 
throughout the whole course of our lives, 
through Jesus Christ our Savior, who liveth 
and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, 
ever one God, world without end. Amen. 



PRAYER. 

Such is the act of addressing the Supreme 
Being, through the merits of our Savior, by 
a modification of words and demeanor, ac- 
companied by a disposition of mind suitable 
to the purity of the divine nature and to the 
infirmity of the human. Whether this holy 
custom was at first suggested by the natural 
sense of man, or whether it was derived from 
God's revelations to the patriarchs, it is not 
material to ascertain : as it is, now, indispu- 
tably sanctioned by no less authority than that 
of Christ himself, whose piety was as eminent 
as all his other virtues. The general use of it, 
indeed, in every age, by nations civilized and 



6S PRAYER. 

barbarous, intimates, at least, that it must be 
derived from some good cause, and is a strong 
argument in its behalf. It is, generally, sanc- 
tioned throughout the voluminous pages of the 
Old Testament, and enjoined continually in 
the salutary doctrines of the New. 
It is of two kinds, 
public 

and 
private. 
The former includes all conditions of men, 
distinguishing none, but, being necessarily 
conducted in general terms, does not alone 
expand to the case of every individual, always, 
any more than to the same individual, at dif- 
ferent times, who, if a wise and good man, 
will have recourse to the latter, according to 
his wants and wishes, to his merits or imper- 
fections. The solemn end of both modes of 
worship is the same — namely — to cherish 
such sentiments as may induce us to honor 
God's holy name and to serve him truly all the 
days of our life. A real devout frame of mind 
is to be acquired by habitual devotion, not by 
formal acts or incidental flights. The cold 
formality of one day's attendance in the church 



PRAYER. 69 

will plead but little in excuse for forgetful n ess 
of God during every other. It is difficult to 
lay aside those cares, entirely, at once, on 
the sabbath, which have monopolized our 
thoughts at all other times. Public devotion 
aims at the good of ourselves and others. 
What duty is there more gratifying to the 
senses ? What can be more satisfactory to 
the heart of every friend of social order, than 
at the weekly appointed hour unitedly endea- 
voring to improve ourselves by joyfully con- 
spiring in the same pious deed, publicly pro- 
fessing the same lively faith, openly declaring 
the same hope, through the same Savior, in 
the same God, thus audibly exhorting one 
another, and so much the more as we see 
each the last day approaching. Very little 
discernment is enough to convince any con- 
siderate person that the general body of the 
people would be in utter danger of losing 
their religious sentiments, were they debarred 
from regular opportunities of assembling toge- 
ther, as the manner of some is, and of being 
influenced by the presence of one another. 
Every sincere Christian is desirous to maintain 
a daily intercourse with his Maker, privately 
D 5 



70 PRAYER. 

at home : more, however, is required. It in- 
dispensably becomes him to give public testi- 
mony every week, at least, of his obedience, 
before his neighbors, in the Church. For 
these, two reasons, more cogent than others, 
may be assigned : 

1. Our Redeemer commands it. 

2. Such pious acts conduce to the mutual 
edification of ourselves and others. 

Religion never did, never can, and never 
will exist without some established meeting of 
the people. Cretes and Arabians, Jews and 
Proselytes, had certain times to sacrifice and 
pray after their manner. By the special com- 
mand of the Most High, under the Mosaic law, 
a regular period was set apart from the crea- 
tion to the death of Christ. The same cus- 
tom, with a change only of the day, has, al- 
ways, prevailed among Christians until now. 

The latter relates, directly, to every one's 
individual self attending continually upon 
these very things — to keep the body in tem- 
perance and the mind in godliness. The at- 
tentive reader cannot avoid noticing that our 
blessed Lord, in cautioning his disciples 
against the abuse of private prayer, not only 



PRAYER. 71 

supposes, but recommends, at the same time, 
the proper use of it. Every member of so- 
ciety is distinguishable from the rest by his 
particular share in the divine dispensations. 
His wants and his comforts are his own, 
though others feel the like. His sins too 
are his own, though others are guilty 
of the like. In short, this sacred duty of 
prayer has a general tendency to improve 
our wisdom, to increase our virtue, and to 
strengthen our resolution. While it prepares 
us for the duties of the present, it qualifies us 
for the glories of a future life. 

Whoever ventures into the world without 
this holy guard, may be compared to him, that 
rusheth unarmed into battle, liable to contend 
with he knows not what, and to manage what 
he meets he knows not how: disposed to startle 
at every object, to be goaded in every en- 
counter, and to be slain in every battle. 

Be assured, then, that the way to be happy 
is to be good, and the way to keep so is to 
seek the Lord while he maybe found, by such 
means, as he hath graciously appointed_, 
which are by private as well as by public 



12 PRAYER. 

prayer, whose effects " console us during the 
darkness of the night, and cheer us through 
the business of the day, continue with us 
jgf. at home, accompany us abroad 10 ," and will 
abide with the faithful for ever. 

O Thou, who knowest our necessities before 
we ask and our ignorance in asking, let thy 
merciful ears, gracious Lord, be open to the 
prayers of thy humble servants, and, that they 
may obtain their petitions, make them to ask 
such things as shall be pleasing in thy sight, 
through our mediator, thy son Jesus Christ, 
who hath promised to be in the midst of those 
gathered together in his name. Amen. 



SUNDAY. 

Be it known to the young and inexperi- 
enced that our early ancestors had their sacred 
temple and stated day to worship the sun. 
From hence is evidently derived the name, 
which surely is a severe reflection upon all 
such of modern times, who enjoying the 
blessed privileges of Christianity, absent them* 



SUNDAY. 73 

selves from places of public worship on this 
day. 

Christians, above all nations, have two the 
best reasons that can, possibly, be assigned, 
independent of their own interest, to keep it 
holy. 

1. The divine commandment, because the 
Lord rested on the seventh day from all the 
work which he had made. This, in the He- 
brew, is sabbath : in English, rest. 

2. The commemoration of an event no less 
extraordinary and important, the resurrection 
of our Blessed Lord, and therefore, styled the 
Lord's Day. The former is still observed, by 
the Jews, on Saturday the last : while Chris- 
tians commemorate both on sunday, the first 
day of the week. 

The wisdom and goodness of God are in 
no respect more striking than in this sacred 
and useful institution ; but, as we are seldom 
sensible of the real value of blessings till we 
feel the privation, let us represent to our minds 
the wretched state, in which this country 
would soon be involved, if the day, now, set 
apart, throughout the whole civilized world 
for religious rest, was, ever, to be totally 



74 SUNDAY. 

done away. Of this, some tolerable conjec- 
ture may be formed by only casting an eye 
into those barbarous regions, where this salu- 
tary custom is, yet, unknown. It is, how- 
ever, unnecessary to ramble far from home, 
when the precincts of almost every parish will 
furnish us with examples sufficient to corrobo- 
rate our opinion on the imperious necessity of 
keeping the sabbath. What sort of people 
they, for the most part, are, who make no 
distinction between this day and the other six, 
it is no more necessary to remark, than to ask 
whether any well-disposed man would choose 
to dwell in a town, if all his neighbors were 
to turn, after the lawless example of the law- 
less few, rebels against God and the king. 
Would his person, would his property, would 
his character be safe amid such a combina- 
tion ? On the contrary, how very different 
is a Sunday- scene under the prudent regula- 
tion of a serious academic clergyman. All 
worldly pursuits, except such as are, merely, 
necessary for the common comfort of animal 
life, during these solemn returning weekly 
hours, are, entirely, suspended: shops are shut: 
public houses, except for the fainting traveller 



SUNDAY. 75 

and needy labourer, not open : pleasure, in- 
compatible with devotion, avoided : here, at 
the joyful sound of the bell, you see all 
dressed in their best apparel assembling with 
the bible, the sacred emblem of religion, un- 
der their arms, at the door, with their fami- 
lies, cheerfully repairing to church, then and 
there, with one heart and voice, letting their 
light shine before one another in common ado- 
ration of their common adorable Creator. 

Independently of the fourth commandment, 
independently of the blessings, in store for 
those, who celebrate, independently of the 
evil, which is sure, sooner, or later, to fall 
upon the head of such as profane the sabbath, 
what greater consolation can there be to the 
heart of every well-disposed man than to re- 
flect that, at the very time he is performing 
his weekly duty, in the church, whether it is 
from 10 to 12 in the forenoon, or from 2 to 
4 in the afternoon, millions in every country ^ 
in the Christian world, are engaged, in simi- 
lar places, in similar acts of praise, and thanks- 
giving to the Sovereign of the universe? 

Blessed Lord ! whose goodness is not li- 
mited to a few, but, is, providentially, ex- 



76 SUNDAY. 

tended over all, rich and poor, in no instance 
is it more conspicuously manifest than in thy 
merciful institution of the sabbath day, at in- 
tervals sufficient to keep alive, in our hearts, 
thy constant love towards mankind, and to re- 
cruit the failing strength of the laboring part 
of thy creation. May a due sense of such in- 
estimable benefits excite me, ever more and 
more, to keep it in a manner becoming my 
dependent state. If at any time I do " warp" 
from the peculiar duty of this " all-hallowed 
day," either through the inadvertence of youth, 
or through the increasing anxiety of creeping 
age, remember me, O my God, concerning 
this, also, and spare me according to the 
greatness of thy mercies. Amen. 



TIME. 

If we confine our thoughts to the human 
race only, time may be considered as begin- 
ning at the creation. It is a mode of dura- 
tion, which we, for convenience, distinguish 
by certain periodical measures marked out by 
the heavenly bodies, chiefly by the sun and 



TIME. 77 

moon. These are, again, rendered still more 
familiar by the artificial modes of clocks, 
watches, and sun-dials. Hence arises the idea 
of particular periods, as a year, month, day, 
&c. These, which are ever running after 
each other from our nativity to our death, ag- 
gregately taken, constitute our lives. No- 
thing, surely, is of greater importance, aad, 
yet, of nothing, surely, are we more careless 
than of the proper application of this sacred 
talent, intended partly for the concerns of this 
world, partly for those of the next, and com- 
mitted to our care by the great author of our 
being, to whom we are no less responsible than 
for the improvement of any other gift. The 
past is irrevocably gone. The future may 
never come. Of the present only we are sure. 
Of itself, time is incapable of variation. Still 
by good, or bad management, it admits of dif- 
ferent degrees of increase or diminution. 
It is brightened by industry, redeemed by 
care, improved by sobriety, and increased by 
a regular plan of virtuous transactions. On 
the contrary, it is disgraced by intemperance, 
wasted by idleness, injured by vice, lost ill 
protracted sleep, and with regard to our own 



78 TIME. 

existence, is, always, precarious. Such, then, 
being the nature of time, knowing what a va- 
riety of duties belong to each particular pe- 
riod : conscious that God expects an account 
of the management thereof, it highly concerns 
me to reflect whether I use it properly, or 
abuse it wrongfully. To ascertain this, let me 
consider whether I am in habits of taking 
more sleep than is necessary against the fa- 
tigues of the approaching day, or am I, after 
the grateful repose of night, when " the 
golden sun " " is up, and all nature invites to 
industry, like Solomon's sluggard inclined for 
a little folding of the hands ? Thus, am I 
not, during the course of the day, through de- 
liberate slothfulness in the morning, com- 
pelled to leave undone what I ought to do — 
my duty in that state of life, unto which it 
hath pleased God to call me ? If at Church ? 
how do I deport myself in the immediate pre- 
sence of that kind Being, who is the giver of 
all I possess ? If at table ? do I esteem food 
as the support of my weakness, or do I view 
it with a luxurious eye, and, spend more time 
at my stated meals, than is required to refit 
me for those labors, whereunto I am daily 



TIME. 79 

called ? Or, on the contrary, am I so lost in 
the indulgence of my misguided appetites, as 
to forget the source from whence all blessings 
flow ? Am I not inclined, in direct opposition 
to the precepts of my blessed Redeemer, to 
take too much thought for my life what I shall 
eat, and, for my body, what I shall put on, 
and, instead of devoting no more time than is 
commonly necessary for each frugal repast, do 
I not loiter much away in excess ? Though I 
may not waste entire days in unbroken idleness : 
am I careful not to let pass by unprofitably 
all those little fragments in weeks, and days, 
and hours, and bits of hours, which altogether 
constitute a considerable part of human life, 
and which, if properly attended to, might be 
turned to vast advantage both in our spiritual 
and temporal warfare? As various pleasures 
were intended by our indulgent Creator to ease 
the burden of life, but, not to relieve it en- 
tirely of its cares, am I cautious to take them 
sparingly without injury to myself or to those 
about me ? How do I behave myself at our 
annual feast? Do I set off by joining my 
well-disposed neighbors on sunday, at 
church, then and there addressing God in a 



80 TIME. 

manner suitable to the chearful occasion? Do 
I spend one or two days in social intercourse 
with my friends, or do I waste a whole valua- 
ble week in chambering festivity, at a season 
of the year, when my labors are most wanted 
in the field, and when I might, like the pro- 
vident ant, be laying up in store for my family 
in winter ? 

O eternal God ! who seeth all things from 
the rising of the sun unto the going down 
thereof, pardon me, I beseech thee of thy 
goodness, for the various periods I have either 
inconsiderately mispent or entirely lost ! 
Teach me so to number the past that I may 
zealously apply the future unto wisdom : en- 
courage me to catch the fleeting moments as 
they arise ! Awaken me to discharge the du- 
ties of my station, each, in their proper 
place : and, as the expectation of the ap* 
proaching morn renders the " eyeless waste of 
night" more tolerable: so may the animating 
hope of futurity stimulate me ever more and 
more to bear with patience the evils of the 
present, which vanish before the number of 
thy daily blessings, and are nothing in com- 
parison of the glory hereafter to be revealed 



TIME. 8 1 



in us through our mediator and advocate Je- 
sus Christ. Amen. 



INDUSTRY. 

If thou art inclined, by evil communication, 
or by domestic habits, to idleness, arise, O 
sleeper ! Consider the superior state, to which 
the active providence of God hath called thee 
over this animated scene ! Look up to the 
clear fountain of perfection proffered thee in 
the Gospel. There you have the brightest 
example and the purest precepts to excite you 
to an industrious course. Whether you trace 
your blessed Savior into retirement, or be- 
hold him in the discharge of the public duties 
of his mission, you find him, always, em- 
ployed in doing good. Distress, in every 
form, attracted his particular care. None 
were too high, none too low for his compas- 
sion. The gates of Nairn, the pool of Be- 
thesda, and the city of Capernaum, are 
marked by deeds never to be forgotten. 
Fainting multitudes were fed, winds were 
hushed, seas were calmed, tombs were opened, 



82 INDUSTRY. 

the dead were raised in obedience to his com- 
mands. If, for one moment, you turn your 
eye from the author and finisher of your faith, 
you, immediately, perceive his Apostles vigi- 
lantly l% employed in the reformation of a 
deluded race. Nor are the sacred books of the 
Old Testament without examples to the like 
effect. Were not the active efforts of Mo- 
ses l 3 and Joshua h more beneficial to the 
Israelites than the mild though certainly less 
virtuous reigns of king Asa 15 and Jo- 
siah l6 ? If from these patterns of holiness, 
you will descend to examine some of the most 
venerable characters among the sons of men> 
such as either the fair pages of history illumi- 
nate, or come within the sphere of your own per- 
sonal knowledge, you will have further reasons 
for admitti ng that no man, however high, or how- 
ever humble his degree, was ever sent into 
this world to stand all the day idle. What is 
so clear from the ceconomy of our holy religion, 
is confirmed by the system of universal nature, 
as well as by the artificial institutions of society. 
Does not every part of the creation excite us 
to activity ? The sun l7 , though stationary, re- 
volves. The planets 8 have each their periodic 



INDUSTRY. 83 

times. Day and night repeat their course. 
Year rolleth after year. Vapors arise l *. 
Rains descend, which supply the current 
stream for the use of man and beast, while wa- 
ter putrifies in the quiescent pool, and sends 
noxious vapors into the air, filling the sur- 
rounding medium with disease and death. 
The superficies 20 of the earth, and the am- 
bient air 21 , together with every species of 
inanimate matter, are additional incitements to 
activity. Of Nature's works nothing stops. 
Operations, in number, as the sand, under 
the agency of a superintending Providence, 
are, always, going on. The silent manners 
of the brute creation teach the like lesson, and 
the life of man speaks the like language. 
Does not every organ of the body, from the eye 
to the foot, conduce to a similar end, with 
which the faculties of the mind one and all 
correspond ? By the necessities of our nature, 
we are called forth to different employments. 
The good effects of industry are visible every 
where throughout the country, in the beauty 
of our towns, in the variety of our manufac- 
tures, in the improving verdure of our fields, 
in the extent of our commerce furling its sail 



84 INDUSTRY. 

in every sea, in the grandeur of our fleets, in 
the array of our armies, in the form of our go- 
vernment, in the splendor of the great, in 
the comfort of the poor, and what is more, in 
the general peace of every good man's heart. 

The more we investigate, the sooner we 
shall be convinced that various active duties 
are imperiously required of every Christian : 
that trifling and idleness are nearly related to 
vice, and are inconsistent with health of body 
and peace of mind. 

He, therefore, that will be saved must thus 
think and act: O Almighty God! king of all 
kings and governor of all things ! who, by thy 
incomprehensible power in the beginning 
created the heaven and the earth : by thy ne- 
ver-failing providence dost cause the various 
functions of nature to be continually fulfilled, 
and by thy bountiful goodness providest for the 
daily wants of mankind, from the king upon 
the throne to the captive in the dungeon: for 
the inhabitants of the great deep : for every 
living creature that moveth upon the earth, as 
well as for the insect, wafted through the air 
" by the invisible and creeping wind," and 
for the fowl that fly above in the open firma- 



INDUSTRY. 35 

ment of Heaven, incline me, invested as I 
am, with supreme dominion over all things 
here below, cheerfully, to discharge the im- 
portant duties of my station. Thou, O gra- 
cious Lord, hast been far more bountiful to 
man, than to any other creature thou hast 
made : him hast Thou possessed with a superi- 
ority 22 of form, and alone enabled to inhabit 
every climate of the earth : to him hast Thou 
given an immortal soul 23 , capable of divine 
honor : him hast Thou invested with the won- 
derful faculty of speech 24 , with ability to dis- 
cern, and with reason to distinguish right from 
wrong ; but, on me hast Thou bestowed an 
additional instance of thy favor, in permitting 
me to dwell in these free 25 and temperate re- 
gions of the world. With so fair an opportu- 
nity of advancing thy glory, of promoting the 
public good, and of improving my own na- 
ture, thus endowed, shall my "quick mind lie 
still, and bring forth weeds?" O forbid it 
Lord ! blessed with health, and in the bright 
meridian of life, shall I remain an idle and 
unwortt^ being, a useless blank amongst the 
works of thy hands ? Amidst the ease and 
pleasure, which I enjoy at home, let me 
E 



g6 INDUSTRY. 

recollect how many of my fellow- creatures, 
equally deserving, are perishing abroad with 
fatigue and want 26 ! How many for the grati- 
fication of my vanity are dragging on a mise- 
rable existence in the gloomy mine 27 , when 
I am permitted to enjoy the cheerful light of 
ieach returning day! How many for the pro- 
tection of that government, which protects 
me, pass their time on the trackless deep 28 , 
or guard the frontiers of the empire in distant 
garrisons over lonely regions 29 " where shiver- 
ing cold and hunger pine the clime," while 
Thou, O merciful Creator, has blessed me 
with the free exercise of various spiritual and 
temporal blessings. May I freely reflect, and 
so reflect as to amend the error of my inactive 
ways " ere I decline into the vale of years." 
May I gratefully call to mind "ere I feel the 
painful pressure of increasing age," what a life 
of labor my blessed Savior endured for my 
sake ! In journeyings, in painfullness, in 
watchings often, in perils in the wilderness, in 
perils in the city ! May I use 30 every endea- 
vor to yield the fruits of those useful talents, 
which, for wise ends, Thou hast so kindly 
committed to my care. May I, before I pay 



INDUSTRY. 87 

the last solemn debt of nature, by uniform di- 
ligence, so stir myself hi this busy world, as 
to reap, in due time, the kindly fruits of the 
earth, and to obtain the glorious rewards pro- 
mised through my Redeemer's merits to those, 
who, diligently, live after thy commandments, 
in the next. Auien. 



CONTENTMENT. 

Positive commands are given in the Old and 
salutary duties enjoined in the New Testa- 
ment, to make us good. By reason of the im- 
perfection of terrestrial enjoyments, as well as 
the utter impossibility of every one being 
able to obtain them ; our blessed Lord hath, 
kindly, enforced the necessity of contentment, 
both by precept and example, to supply what- 
ever is defective in our lot. Without it no 
degree of prosperity can be enjoyed, nor can 
any grade of adversity be endured. To curb, 
and, if possible, to divert the wretchedness of 
a discontented mind, every one should seri- 
ously observe that " Heaven, for wise reasons, 
hath divided the state of man into diverse 
E 2 



8& CONTENTMENT. 

unctions : that human life was neither in- 
tended to be brightened by uninterrupted 
sun-shine, nor to be overcast with perpetual 
gloom, and that equality is not the genius 
of this world. Pre-eminence and inferiority : 
dominion and subjection : are, each, in their 
proper places, indispensably necessary. The 
rich could not enjoy the honors of advance- 
ment without the daily labors of the poor : nor 
could the poor eat the bread of carefulness un- 
less aided by the daily bounty of the rich. 
The different classes, together with the num- 
berless diversities in each, execute a benevo- 
lent plan of divine providence : and, are ne- 
cessary to the well-being of Society : which, 
like a great chain, whose links, however dis- 
tant, depend upon each other, exists by the 
preservation of its respective parts. No man 
is : no man can : no man ought to be perfectly 
independent. The great are, in fact, no other 
than superior servants in the vast family of the 
world : who are required to do justly, to love 
mercy, and to deal bread to the hungry in due 
season : so they, whom God for wise reasons 
hath consigned to humble stations, are re- 
quired to behave themselves lowly and reve- 



CONTENTMENT, $9 

rently to all their betters. If, then, in the 
general arrangement, the supreme disposer of 
all events has actually consulted the interest of 
the whole human race, it follows, that the con- 
dition of each individual, independent of such 
alterations as his own good or bad conduct 
might have made, is what God deemed con- 
venient, and ought, certainly, to be submitted 
to without a murmur, always, remembering 
that " whatever is grievous to be borne, be- 
comes easier by contentment 31 ." 

Toward the attainment of so happy a frame 
of mind, fail not frequently to reflect on the 
state of life unto which it hath pleased God to 
call you ! Elevated by the bounty of provi- 
dence, without any merits of your own : born 
to honor, heir to a stately mansion, descended 
from a venerable line of ancestry : and sur- 
rounded by vast domains, how ! consider how, 
you, generally deport yourself in so responsi- 
ble a station over your numerous dependants 
and towards the circumjacent neighborhood? 
Imperious and unfeeling, or easy of access, and 
kind to all ? As example is far before pre-* 
eept, do you present a conspicuous object of 
imitation, or are you addicted to excess, to 



90 CONTENTMENT. 

prophane talking, and to the neglect of the 
sabbath of the Lord thy God ? Are you con- 
tent with your hereditary blessings, or like the 
disconsolate king of Israel, do you foolishly 
covet some corner 32 , which it is impossible, 
fairly, to obtain, and, if you could get pos- 
session of it, would not increase your happiness? 
Are the unexpected variations in the weather 
apt to ruffle you, because they impede the 
best concerted plans for business, and spoil 
the finest schemes for pleasure ? Forget not 
" what will come will come :" " the self-same 
Heaven that frowns on you, looks sadly upon 
all 33 ." Are you, by your own voluntary choice, 
in the ministry of the Christian religion ? Con- 
sider the high importance of your trust, and 
endeavor to conduct yourself in such a manner 
as may enable you to give an account chearful 
to yourself and satisfactory in that eye which 
runneth to and fro throughout the whole earth 
to shew himself strong in behalf of them, 
whose heart is perfect towards him. If young, 
or not yet beneficed in the church, be not too 
impatient for advancement. The day of trial 
may not be over, nor the time of retribution 
far off. Endure unto the end. Your merito- 



CONTENTMENT. 91 

rious labors will certainly be rewarded in self 
satisfaction, now, and in happiness, hereafter. 
Perhaps, too, it may please the great Lord 
of the vineyard, who ruleth the hearts of all 
men, so graciously to dispose that of some 
discerning patron, as to reward thy merits ac- 
cording to thy moderate and just desires. 
When troubles assail : difficulties arise and 
pains attack you, yield to none, but call 
forth all your courage: forget not that your 
holy Redeemer was contented to be betrayed. 
Forget not to look back on those many years 
of health and happiness, which your benevo- 
lent Creator has, previously, permitted you to 
enjoy, from your birth to this very hour. 
Forget not that it is good for us to be afflicted, 
and that man is born to trouble as the sparks 
fly upwards. Forget not that many modes of 
comfort, if not some source of address not at- 
tainable by the generality of your fellows are, 
still, within your reach ! Whenever you enu- 
merate your wants, omit not to put your 
blessings in the opposite scale, and you will 
quickly know which will preponderate. If you 
have lost a friend, have you not a Savior ? 
Fail not, then, to acknowledge the hand of 



92 CONTENTMENT. 

God in every event of life. Whether you re- 
ceive good or evil, receive it as from a hand 
which has a right to dispense what it pleaseth. 
Receive its blessings with thankfulness and its 
inflictions without murmuring. On the other 
hand, " are you lowly born ?" Is it your lot to 
serve and depend on others? What is your par- 
ticular vocation ? Employed in putting the 
sickle to the corn, in thrashing, or in grind- 
ing, or in any other useful operation to pre- 
pare it for the use of man : do you conduct 
yourself in this state of temptation, content- 
edly and honestly : or do you pilfer from 
your master 34 , day by day, continually mur- 
muring against the good man of thehouse, be- 
cause he does not raise you to some higher 
post, while many of your neighbors unable to 
get employment within, are compelled to 
work out of doors under the rigor of winter ? 
Does your life pass away on the trackless deep, 
or under perilous tents, watching and fighting 
the enemies of your Country ? Whether in 
promoting the commercial interest, or in serv- 
ing the military government, be content in 
reflecting that so long as you continue to arm 
yourself with patience and to conduct yourself 



CONTENTMENT. 93 

with courage, the Lord of Hosts will never for- 
sake you 35 , but, after this painful life ended, will 
receive you into " a new kingdom, where you 
will reap a harvest of perpetual rest," 

O Thou, who hast surrounded us with trou- 
bles we are prone to complain of, yet, cannot 
redress : exposed us to perils we, always, 
dread, yet, cannot escape : oppressed us with 
wants we are impatient, yet unable to supply; 
but, for our direction, therein, hast mercifully 
favored us with the comfort of thy holy word, 
and blessed us with a perfect model of con- 
tentment in thy son Jesus Christ. Grant, there- 
fore, " O just and true disposing God," that 
we may learn of him, who was meek and lowly 
of heart, to be content each in our several vo- 
cations with such a portion of good things as 
thou art pleased to bestow : and to submit so 
patiently to the various dispensations of thy 
daily providence here, that we finally lose 
not, through his merit, the inconceivable 
glories intended for us hereafter. Amen. 



E 5 



94 



CHARACTER. 

If it is allowable to compare things * di- 
verse with each other, one should be inclined 
to say, the character of man carries no unapt 
similitude to the terrestrial crlobe. Both are the 
original works of a wise and omnipotent Crea- 
tor : both are composed of a variety of parts, and 
both require different degrees of culture and 
management to nourish and improve them. 
As distant climates present soils, of different 
qualities, which differ, also, from each other, 
so does society, in general, offer to the eye of 
the discerning characters infinitely diversified. 
Sometimes the good and bad traits are so pre- 
dominant, or so intermixed, as clearly to dis- 
criminate one person from a virtuous, and a 
second from a vicious man. At another, these 
qualities are so blended, like light and shade 
in nature, as to leave the character doubtful : 
virtue and vice so crossing and running upon 
each other, that it is difficult to distinguish 
where one begins and the other ends, where to 



CHARACTER. 95 

praise and where to blame. In short, charac- 
ters, for the most part, are distinguished into 
three kinds, good, bad, and indifferent. 
Which to admire, and which to blame, no one 
will hesitate. What they are, and what they 
ought to be, the most illiterate cannot be ig- 
norant. How to estimate them impartially 
and justly, is not so easy ; but as such atten- 
tions, if properly made, will be found useful 
in our intercourse with the world: the follow- 
ing remarks, 1 trust, will not be beneath the 
notice of the serious reader. 

Few, it is to be observed, have the inclina- 
tion and opportunity both to plan and execute 
any design either eminently good, or terribly 
atrocious. None, indeed, there are, who are 
not liable to frequent failings, incident to 
continual errors, exposed to daily trespasses, 
and, many in habits of actual sin. One man, 
possessed of all the essentials requisite to en- 
title him to the highest degree of military 
fame, undaunted courage, consummate skill, 
and unceasing vigilance, may never be fa- 
vored with an opportunity to display these 
great qualities in action. While another, with 
not half the merit, by a chain of fortuitous 



96 CHARACTER. 

events, is placed in a situation, which, in the 
course of only one single day, or of a few 
hours, enables him to attract the notice of his 
countrymen, and to hand down his name to a 
distant posterity 37 . A third, not daring, per- 
haps, through fear of punishment, or actu- 
ated by some other motive, to commit any 
flagrant act of impiety, notwithstanding, by 
continually persevering in a line of indifferent 
conduct : at the close of life, collectively 
speaking, may have done as much real harm, 
by the dangerous fallacy of his precepts, and 
by the pernicious tendency of his example, as 
if he had casually perpetrated one single enor- 
mity, instead of persevering in habits more 
regular and less excessively sinfuL Hence it 
follows, that the real character of every hu- 
man being, whether good or bad, ought to be 
estimated, and, be assured, it will be esti- 
mated, by the general tenor of his actions from 
the beginning to the end of his rational life ; 
as the fineness of the year, not by the beauty 
of oue season, by the glare of one day, or by 
the brightness of one month ; but, by the ge- 
niality of the whole. 



CHARACTER. 99 

Let no one, then, presume to think he is 
not as other men are : and, arrogate merit, to 
which he is not, in the least, entitled, because 
he has abstained from sins, which he was 
never tempted to commit: let us ail thank God 
for exempting us from temptation in some in- 
stances, and earnestly pray for grace to resist 
in others, to which the sovereign disposer of 
all events may see fit to expose us, during 
this present life, in order that, by a course of 
virtuous conduct we may work out our own 
salvation, and thereby render ourselves wor- 
thy objects of his favor in the next. 

O merciful father ! who in compassion to 
our fallen nature, hast favored us with an ex- 
ample of perfect righteousness : enable us, 
in all our trials and adversities, to follow the 
blessed steps of that most holy life, which was 
sacrificed for our sake, and not, like the pre- 
suming Pharisee, to believe ourselves blame- 
less in every ordinance, because we have 
walked after thy commandments in some par- 
ticulars, through the merits of Jesus Christ 
thy son our Lord. Amen. 



98 



REGULATIONS 



A SUNDAY SCHOOL. 

The children of the village being assembled 
at the usual time, and silence obtained, let the 
following prayer be said by the minister, to 
whose custody they are committed, falling de- 
voutly on their knees. 

BEGINNING. 

Omnipotent and immortal God ! creator of 
all things in heaven and earth : whose throne 
is glory : whose sceptre righteousness : whose 
overflowing goodness is most eminently con- 
spicuous as well over the poorest and weakest 
of thy creatures, as in protecting the richest 
and the most stately monuments of thy favor : 
"who seest the hero perish and the sparrow 
fall 38 ." We beseech thee to extend thy wonted 
goodness over all the members of thy church - 
give to the clergy, in general, a spirit of holi- 
ness : possess them not with fear 39 : but, ena 



BEGINNING. 99 

ble them, boldly, to rebuke vice, to the main- 
tenance of thy true religion and virtue : upon 
these occasions, more especially I pray thee 
to make me patient and industrious in declar- 
ing thy will, not merely to the inhabitants of 
this parish assembled at the usual hour in the 
church ; but, O Thou, that knowest the se- 
crets of all hearts and turnest them as it seem- 
est best to thy supreme wisdom, turn mine o 
a temper truly charitable towards these little 
ones, whom I have, here, presumed to call 
together with an ardent hope to instruct them 
in the rudiments of the Christian faith. O 
Thou that sufferest little children to come unto 
thee and forbaddest them not, assist us merci- 
fully in these our supplications and endeavors : 
since these young persons seem intended, by 
thy providential goodness, for the humble, 
though useful walks in life, be pleased, most 
graciously, to distribute, to each, qualities 
suitable to their respective conditions, give 
them patience to hear, ability to comprehend, 
and strength of memory to retain what I, now, 
wish to teach them : that, the seeds of piety 
being so early and so firmly deposited in their 
hearts, like the tree planted by the water- 



100 BEGINNING. 

side, they may bring forth fruit in due sea- 
son, the geuuine fruit of good living, whether 
they are all destined to an uninterrupted 
course of profitable labor to the grave, or whe- 
ther thou shalt think fit, hereafter to call some 
of them upon the public theatre of the world : 
bless the laborer with health of body, with 
ease and contentment of mind : prosper the 
determined industry of the husbandman, with 
the dew of Heaven from above 40 and with 
the blessings of the earth beneath : grant to 
the master a mind kindly disposed towards the 
servant and to the dumb animals committed 
to his care 41 , to all in subordinate stations, 
faithfulness, and industry : to the young man, 
sobriety : to the maiden, virtue. 

Thy faithfulness, O Lord, reachethunto the 
Heavens : thy truth unto the clouds : thy wis- 
dom endureth unto the end. Italtereth not. 

What region is there 48 , upon earth, where 
it is not conspicuously manifest ? In the days 
of ignorance and darkness, when only a small 
ray of light glimmered on the Gentile world, 
Thou didst convey thy gracious will to a 
chosen few by patriarchs, and prophets, and 
holy-men. Moreover, when, out of thy un- 



BEGINNING. 101 

utterable love to mankind, Thou didst, merci- 
fully, condescend to send thy son Jesus Christ 
into the world, Thou didst lead the wise men 
of the East by the special guidance of a star ; 
but, after the glorious sun of righteousness 
had risen to his meridian height with healing 
on his wings, when the bright day of Christi- 
anity was fully come, Thou wast, then, pleased 
to commit all men, whether Jews or Gentiles, 
who chose to enlist under the banner of the 
cross, to the custody of an unerring protector, 
the Holy Ghost the comforter. Infuse, O fa- 
ther of mercies, and God of all comfort, into 
the minds of all the members of this our little 
Sion, a spirit of quietness, docility, and love 
of thy religion, that they may be fit objects 
for the protection of this holy guardian in the 
various turns and dangers of the present life ; 
and may finally become inheritors of eternal 
glory with the saints of light, in the next, 
through the merits of Jesus Christ our Lord. 
Amen. 

The children, having each received instruc- 
tion suitable to their tender years, and the 
catechism, which upon such occasion ought 



102 BEGINNING. 

never once to be omitted, being finished : it 
may not be amiss to conclude with the follow- 
ing prayer in a slow, devout, and audible 
voice, all kneeling, as before. 



ENDING. 

G universal God, and kind father of the 
world, who of thy bountiful goodness has fa- 
vored us with another sabbath, wherein we 
have had an opportunity of improving our- 
selves in religious knowledge : grant that what 
we have, now, heard, we may remember, and 
remembering, may, by the influence of thy 
holy spirit, be induced to exemplify in our 
future conduct : and, because, through the 
frailty of our mortal nature we cannot but fall; 
guide, and protect us, we sincerely beseech 
thee, with heavenly aid; that we may so pass 
through things temporal as finally not lose the 
things eternal, for the sake of our Lord and 
Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. 

Whereas the principal design of a Sunday 
school is to sow the seeds of early piety and 
virtue in the minds of little children, some of 



ENDING. 103 

whom, probably without such an opportunity 
would live and die under a cloud of the gross- 
est ignorance : since, without a strict atten- 
tion both to the time of coming together, and 
to business while together, none can ever 
make a proper proficiency, it is much to be 
wished that parents and masters of families 
will be earnest to enforce the strictest atten- 
tion to the following rules. 

1. That the children come to the usual 
place to be instructed, every Sunday, exactly 
at the time appointed. 

2. That they be still, obedient, and indus- 
trious while together : in returning to their se- 
veral homes quiet, and decent, in their beha- 
viour the remainder of the day. 

3. That they, always, go to Church, attend 
not only to the words and sense of the service ; 
but, particularly, to the custom of sitting, 
standing, kneeling, &c. at stated intervals, 
which may be learned from the instructions 
contained in some of the preceding pages, as 
well as from the example of well disposed 
Christians older than themselves. 

4. That, if, at any time, a child, through 
ill -health, or any other cause, be unable to 



104 ENDING. 

attend, the true reason be assigned to the su- 
perintendant of the school. 

5. That, if children omit coming on frivo- 
lous pretences, or, shall be in habits of com- 
ing late, of being refractory and idle, such 
shall be seriously admonished. If, after such 
admonition, they persevere in the same line of 
conduct, they shall be turned out, and, con- 
sequently deprived of those happy advantages, 
which otherwise, by God's blessing, may ra- 
tionally be expected from a regular, diligent, 
and pious attention to the easy means of in- 
struction, thus, afforded them. 



CONFIRMATION, 

This is one of those necessary duties re- 
quired by the Christian church, which ap- 
pears, as clear as any thing can appear, from 
the 17th and 18th verses of the 8th chapter of 
the Acts, to have originated with St. Peter 
and St. John. Hence it was continued, through 
a series of intervening ages, by the bishops, 



CONFIRMATION. 105 

their immediate successors, a class of men, 
generally speaking, eminent for their piety 
and learning, yet, inferior in every point of 
view, beyond comparison, to those, who were 
first inspired by our heavenly master. The 
mode of administering the sacred ceremonies 
of religion seems to have been much the same 
then, as now. Baptism was performed by the 
lower : preaching by every order: while, per- 
haps, for the sake of maintaining a proper 
degree of necessary subordination, it was, so- 
lemnly, reserved, as it is with us, to this very 
clay, for the highest rank of ministers only, 
by prayer, and laying on of hands, to implore 
further measures of the Holy Ghost. This is a 
very antient ceremony, adopted by religious 
persons in the earliest times: used by our 
blessed Savior towards children: used by the 
Apostles : used continually in the protestant 
church, unto this very day. It is a natural 
indication of good will in persons who do it 
in tne common intercourse of society ; but, in 
this particular instance it is a direct notifica- 
tion, through the bishop, the highest member 
of our religious establishment, the humble 
servant of Almighty God, of the divine care, 



106 CONFIRMATION. 

towards the young candidates for confirmation ; 
provided, which must be, always, understood, 
they each endeavor to preserve their title to 
his care, by a proper care over themselves. 
On two accounts it is called confirmation. 

1. The young persons voluntarily confirm- 
ing the vow, which their god-fathers and god- 
mothers made at their respective baptisms, by 
submitting on their knees to the form pre- 
scribed in the prayer book. 

2. Directly after episcopal imposition, join- 
ing in prayer with the clergy, elders, and all 
present, before the altar, to God the great 
father of mercies, that he would graciously 
condescend to confirm them in their new and 
high calling, to fulfil in their own persons, 
what was promised for them, by others in their 
infant years before they were able to answer 
for themselves. For the completion of this 
necessary duty, there is fixed, indeed, no 
single individual period. As soon as each 
can say the creed, the Lord's prayer, 
and the ten commandments, in the fami- 
liar language of his country, is moreover, 
instructed by his parents, his pastors, and 
masters, last of all examined and approved by 



CONFIRMATION. 107 

his parochial minister, with respect to his 
knowledge in the church catechism set forth 
for that purpose, he is invited to attend the 
bishop, when he comes officially into the 
country. No sooner does every human being 
know good and evil than he becomes account- 
able for his actions : much more so after he 
hath solemnly promised in his own person, be- 
fore the sacred altar of God, in presence of 
the first minister of the christian church, to 
renounce the devil and all his works. 

Such is, evidently, the design of this insti- 
tution : which being founded on the best au^ 
thority, and for the best purposes, certainly 
demands our best regards — a duty not to be 
performed or neglected at pleasure ; but, im- 
periously required of every Christian. Why, 
then, should it be either lightly esteemed or 
totally disregarded, any more than baptism or 
burial, or other solemn offices prescribed by 
different religious establishments ? What this 
or any country would be without such, we 
need only consider the state of society before 
their introduction, or the present condition of 
nations without the benefits resulting from 
them ! 



* 10$ CONFIRMATION. 

Stir up, O Lord, the will of me thy htfmble 
servant, to "let no day unhallowekl pass," with- 
out endeavoring to teach the ordinances of 
thy law diligently unto these children, and to 
explain its testimonies, patiently, to those 
little ones committed to my care, that they 
walking blameless in thy commandments 
through their infant years, at the accustomed 
age, rising towards maturity, may chearfully 
submit to this holy ceremony. May they, in 
conformity to that solemn vow, now, taken 
upon themselves, evermore, be ready to please 
thee, through the merits of thy Son our Sa- 
vior. Amen. 



FORGIVENESS. 

No one will deny, that the author and 
finisher of our faith, first, singly, and firmly 
did not only venture to oppose most of the es- 
tablished principles, but, actually by his 
Apostles, introduced a system of religion op- 
posite to opinions, which universally predo- 
minated throughout what was, then, called the 



FORGIVENESS. 109 

civilized world, at the very aera, wherein he 
condescended to lay aside his celestial nature 
and came to visit us in great humility. The 
most popular virtues, at that time, were a 
fiery spirit, ungovernable courage, and im- 
placable resentment. To this accords the 
character of an illustrious hero drawn by a 
great poet of antiquity : 

" Intrepid, fierce, of unforgiving rage." 

To these blazing qualities the Christian re- 
ligion presents the mildest and completest 
contrast, 
. Blessed are the meek, &c. 

Be ye merciful, &c. 

Pray for them that despitefully use you. 

Forgive and ye shall be forgiven. 

After our blessed Lord, in his admirable 
sermon upon the mount, instructs us to pray 
for our temporal wants, it is worthy of remark 
that he, next, directs our attention .to a spi- 
ritual affair of much more importance — 
namely — to ask pardon for our offences. 
Now, as there is no man living that sinneth 
not, but taking one with another, gives, ge- 
nerally speaking, just as much cause of dis- 
F 



110 FORGIVENESS. 

pleasure to his fellow creatures, as they to 
him, it seems impossible to devise any thing 
more natural, more fair, or more appropriate, 
than to implore the divine goodness to forgive 
us our trespasses as we forgive them that tres- 
pass against us. Every reader, at least, may not 
understand exactly, what our obligations, to 
forgiveness, are. I shall, endeavor, therefore, 
to shew how far they ought to extend, and 
where they ought to stop. 

It is not, perhaps, too much to assert, that, 
with regard to our individual selves, all of- 
fences, whether proceeding from personal af- 
fronts, or private injuries, which can be over- 
looked with safety, ought to be consigned to 
oblivion; but, if the vindication of our own 
character, or the public interest, call imperi- 
ously for the iron arm of the law, as that must 
sometimes be the case, every mild and good 
man w T ill proceed with temperate reluctance, 
endeavoring continually to practise the salu- 
tary rule of his heavenly Master, to do as he 
would be done by. If some have spitefully in- 
treated you, that is not a sufficient reason, 
why you should return the like, because we are 
exho.tcd not to render evil for evil, but, con- 



FORGIVENESS. 1 1 I 

trariwise, blessing. Besides, you may have 
given some provocation, and, if not, you have 
no more reason to fear the slanderer, than to re- 
gard the " empty hollowness of the idle wind, 
which you respect not as it passes, turning 
past evils to advantages," and remembering so 
long as thou doest well unto thyself, men will 
speak good of thee. If others are frail and ig- 
norant, are you free from infirmities ? Pon- 
der thine own ways, then, and make such rea- 
sonable allowance for the foibles of your 
neighbors, as human frailty and human igno- 
rance demand. Wish well, at least, to all, 
however they may have offended : be ready to 
accept an apology, and to credit their repent- 
ance, always, holding in mind, that, in the 
generality of disputes, both sides are com- 
monly to blame, and each thinking itself 
right, is, partly apt to take the unkind, white 
it is certainly, always, better to err on the 
merciful side of the question, 

This temper of forgiveness towards our fel- 
low creatures becomes us all, in our private 
vocations, unequivocally, to adopt; but, in 
our public ministry, from the king upon the 
throne to the lowest officer in the state K th«j 

E 2 



112 FORGIVENESS. 

welfare of society imperiously requires a diffe- 
rent mode of acting, though always tinctured 
with that generous spirit of forgiveness en- 
joined in that short, but comprehensive prayer, 
which our blessed Lord hath taught us. Per- 
sons in authority cannot, consistently with 
their duty, which they are upon oath bound to 
perform impartially towards friends and ene- 
mies, to rich and poor, avoid inflicting pu- 
nishment for the reformation of the guilty, 
protection of the innocent, and welfare of all. 
This, however, they will do, if true Christi- 
ans, in a way leading to edification and not to 
destruction. 

Forbearing one another and forgiving one 
another, be assured, will have a considerable 
degree of influence towards our Creator's for- 
giving us. It is a principal, certainly not the 
only qualification necessary for divine accept- 
ance, at the last. The performance of every 
part of our Christian duty, to the best of our 
ability, is expected to have its share. That 
God is merciful, no one can doubt: that he 
will be jnst, all well know. Our errors, through 
the intercession of Christ, by our repentance, 
may be pardoned ; but, we may all rest confi- 



FORGIVENESS. 113 

dently assured, that the gates of Heaven will 
be for ever and for ever shut against that man, 
who dares to persevere in any one deliberate, 
and, consequently, unrepented sin. 

Be it then, my endeavor, in humble imita- 
tion of the glorified Messiah, to use such cour- 
tesy in my words : to adopt such lenity in my 
conversation : to pursue such suavity in my 
manners, and, to practise such a temper of 
forgiveness throughout the whole tenor of my 
conduct towards others, as may, for his sake, 
be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord. Amen. 



CHARITY. 

No virtue so high in the Christian code : 
none so generally useful is oftener named and 
less understood. It is not, always, as is, too 
commonly, supposed, the actuality or the 
greatness of the gift, which renders the me- 
morial grateful before God, If this was the 
case, what would be the avail of the widow's 
mite? Where the merit of those well-disposed 
persons, who have nothing to give their 
neighbors in time of trouble ? So, on the 



114 CHARITY. 

contrary, what worthy characters would they 
be, who, in the multitude of their riches cast 
gifts into the treasury, instigated by unworthy 
motives, interest, ambition, or some other pre- 
dominating passion, without an ear to listen, 
a heart to feel, or a disposition to comfort ? 
It consists, as is admirably displayed by St. 
Paul, 1 Cor. xiii. in a mind properly turned 
both by word and deed, towards the whole 
human race, Jews and Proselytes, Catholics 
and Protestants, Christians of every sect, not 
content merely in feeling, but, in endeavor- 
ing to relieve the wants of others, consistently 
with our own. 

" Laud be to Thee, O God," who hast 
taught us that all our doings without charity are 
nothing worth : who, by thy governance, hast 
so ordered the course of the present world, 
that any one, however poor, is enabled to 
practise this most excellent virtue, whereby 
we obtain remission of our sins and happiness 
in the next, through Jesus Christ our Lord, 
who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the 
Holy Ghost, now, henceforth, and for even 
Amen. 



1 15 



PARENTS TO CHILDREN. 



It is hardly necessary to remark that infancy 
requires little more than a strict attention to 
the predominating calls of nature regulated by 
parental care. These pages may chance to 
fall under the eye of defaulters in so obvious 
a respect. I intreat, therefore, the indul- 
gence of those readers, who need no intima- 
tion to excite them to the discharge of their 
important trust. 

Because the divine law is so explicit on the 
duty of children to their parents, and is, alto- 
gether silent with respect to that of parents 
towards their children, it must not hence be 
inferred, that we are at liberty to do as we 
please in this, any more than in the clearer 
prescribed branches of our Christian calling. 
No mind, not even the most untutored, can 
fail, in a country governed by such an admi- 
rable system of laws, and blessed by such an 
unrivalled religious establishment, to acquire 
a proper sense of its parental duties: either 
from what the Holy Scriptures generally pro- 



116 PARENTS TO CHILDREN. 

claim, to glean it from the daily observations 
on brute animals, or to imbibe it from the 
plain suggestions of reason. The affectionate 
deportment of Isaac and Rebecca towards 
their sons Jacob and Esau is set forth an ex- 
ample to future times. What, else, induced 
Elisha to raise the widow's only child, than 
the most perfect approbation of her maternal 
love ? Thus did our blessed Lord, at Caper- 
naum, by a similar act of compassion. To 
the same import are the lively admonitions of 
St. Paul. If we descend and carry our re- 
searches throughout the whole order of ani- 
mated nature: we shall find creatures, even 
the most harmless, vigilant and active, with 
few exceptions, in protection of their off- 
spring till they are able to protect themselves. 
The silent admonitions of conscience impress 
the self-same natural lesson. So productive 
is our country, so well adapted is its govern- 
ment to the well-being of its subjects, that 
no man need fear of perishing through want : 
nor despair, however humble his degree, of 
improving his first estate by a regular course 
of virtuous exertions. Few populous towns 
are without an example of this sort; but, as 



PARENTS TO CHILDREN. 117 

the future prosperity of children depends very 
much on the conduct of their parents towards 
them in their early years : I, again, crave 
pardon of the reader, if, in the following re- 
marks any thing occurs, that to his steady and 
tender mind may seem, perhaps, too obvious 
to notice. 

That some preparation is, indispensably ne- 
cessary, previous to the birth of every human 
being, no one will deny. What it, precisely 
is, every parent will, readily, communicate 
to such as are ignorant, and, desirous to know. 
When the dawnings of reason begin to appear 
with commencing childhood, fresh duties be- 
gin to arise, increasing with increasing time. 
For this period, what form of instruction can 
be better calculated to teach us our duty to 
God and man, than the matchless catechism 
of our church ? The silent admonition of 
example is, always, more persuasive than pre- 
cept: and, no where, it must be confessed, 
does it shine with such appropriate lustre, as 
in the eye of youth. Parents should, at all 
times, be correct in their deportment; but, 
when children, who are prone to imitate both 
their mental and corporal habits, begin to 
F 5 



liS PARENTS TO CHILDREN. 

know good and evil, a much greater degree of 
vigilance is requisite, lest any thing faulty, 
thus sanctioned by the pernicious influence of 
example, should be copied and prove ruinous 
to their children. With what grace, or what 
effect, can any father presume to reprimand 
his son for those very vices, which he commits : 
to caution a servant against irregularities, into 
which he daily slips, or to praise perfections, 
which he only talks of? Virtue with him is an 
empty name, and charity no more than a 
sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. 

Having each endeavored, to the utmost, to 
train their minds to virtue : it next becomes 
parents to seek for situations suitable to the 
different capacities of their children : so that 
they may become useful as well as good mem- 
bers of society, attending continually upon 
this very thing — by a frugal and industrious 
course of life to lay up a portion of their pos- 
sessions according to the laws and customs of 
the country. Let the parents, then, whose 
uninterrupted good conduct has, thus, hap- 
pily contributed to make their children worthy 
members of society : and whose days have 
)&een prolonged to see the utmost perfection 



PARENTS TO CHILDREN* 119 

of their wishes, sit down happy in the even- 
ing of their well-spent lives, with thankfulness 
to God, confidently hoping to attain " the trea- 
sury of everlasting joy" in the world to come, 
when sorrow and mourning shall flee away. 

O God, from whom all holy desires, all 
good counsels, and all just works do proceed, 
who, to my existence hast added a similar in- 
stance of thy goodness in making me a parent. 
As thou satisfiest the daily wants of every 
living thing, just so, may I humbly endeavor 
to imitate thy paternal providence in this imi- 
table perfection ! May I never forget the 
tender hand, that led me, safely, through the 
helpless age of infancy ; but in return, now, 
remember gratefully to discharge my serious 
duty towards those little ones, whose lives are 
only a continuation of my own. In consult- 
ing their general welfare : may I, earnestly 
look up to thee, the creator and preserver of 
all mankind. Strengthen me, through an ho- 
nest "course of profitable labor to the grave/' 
to provide both for their souls and bodies. As 
they advance in youth, may I neither correct 
their failings with too much severity on one 



120 PARENTS TO CHILDREN. 

hand, nor reward their merits with dangerous 
partiality on the other. 

Finally, O gracious Lord ! may I never 
cease to recommend my precepts by the per- 
suasive admonition of my own virtue. May I 
never fail to enliven my instructions by the 
powerful influence of a bright example, for 
the sake of the glorified Messiah. Amen. 



CHILDREN TO PARENTS. 

We haye ten commandments for the regu- 
lation of our conduct from the law of Moses, 
sanctioned by the law of Christ. The four 
first prescribe the duty of the creature to the 
creator. The next degree of reverence being 
due from the child to the parent, is, accord- 
ingly, enjoined strictly in the fifth. Here the 
young reader will do well to observe a peculi- 
arity strikingly different from the remaining 
nine — a positive command, Honor thy father 
and thy mother, with the annexation of a 
blessing — that thy days may be long in the 
land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee. 



CHILDREN TO PARENTS, 121 

The former is intended as a spur : the latter 
as a reward for 'his obedience. Now this is 
the promise of the Almighty to the Israelites, 
by whom the fertile country of Canaan was 
considered as the source and emblem of tem- 
poral prosperity. By it we Christians, also, 
are to understand, in a figurative though true 
sense, the promise of the life, which now is, 
and, of that which is to come. We need not, 
however, limit our attention to any particular 
passage of scripture. The universal language 
of holy writ : the loud voice of nature, toge- 
ther with the silent admonitions of reason, 
confirm the same precept. In the early ages 
of society filial outrage was punished with 
death. All the men of the city shall stone 
him with stones that he die. By the emphatic 
denuntiation of Solomon what less is the young 
scorner taught to expect, than the heavy 
judgements of God sooner or later upon his 
rebellious head ? Whoever is hard-hearted 
to his decrepid father, and unkind to his aged 
mother, to whom can it be expected he will 
be good ? What sin will not such a ruffian 
rise in time, to commit ? A disobedient son, 
generally, turns out a bad member of society. 



122 CHILDREN TO PARENTS. 

He is a marked character in the village, where 
it is his lot to live. Of such every one is sus- 
picious or afraid. Who would hire him for a 
servant, or take him for an apprentice ? Next 
to God, whom ought we to obey before those, 
who brought us into being, and sustained us in 
our helpless years : Are not young animals 
wild and tame under the protection of their 
parents ? Is not the one as prone to imitate 
its faithful guide as the other is fond to exe- 
cute its tender trust ? See the young brood 
gathering under the wings of the protecting 
hen against the impending storm I Behold 
the young lamb fly to the timid ewe, before 
the ferocious dog \ hut, above all, let the fiiiai 
behavior of our blessed Redeemer, who, 
though the pattern of perfection, was subject 
to his parents, banish even the shadow of dis- 
obedience from your doors, a crime, at first, 
like a slowly flowing stream, which increaseth 
as itgoes, gradually undermines the foundation 
of every virtue, and pours in a deluge of evils* 
O Thou ! whom no similitude can exactly 
represent what Thou art in thyself, or what 
Thou art to me ! I thank Thee that Thou 
hast vouchsafed to call me into being, and to 



CHILDREN TO PARENTS. 123 

place me under the tender guidance of those, 
whom next to Thee I am bound to honor. 
Assist me, with thy grace to seek Thee, my 
Creator early, by an early obedience to my 
parents, whose title Thou delightest to as- 
sume : as I encrease in stature, may a sense of 
my duty to them continually remind me of 
the increasing duties I owe to Thee, the com- 
mon parent of mankind : as I advance in years 
may neither the vanity of the world exalt me, 
nor a confidence in my own abilities among 
the sundry and manifold changes of the world 
seduce me to forget what they, under thy fa- 
therly providence, did for me, when I was able 
to do nothing for myself: and, should it seem 
fit to thy paternal wisdom, to prolong their 
existence to the utmost extremity of human 
life : may the filial example of my blessed Sa- 
vior stimulate me, more and more, under their 
growing infirmities and pressing wants, to re- 
compense them the things they have done by 
every endearment in my power, that I may 
obtain thereby, the reward proferred to those> 
who-, diligently, live after thy fifth command- 
ment, through the same Jesus Christ thy son, 
my redeemer. Amen. 



124 
UNIVERSAL DELUGE. 

Some things are presented to us in Scrip- 
ture, while a variety of others are daily before 
our eyes on the general face of nature, which 
it is as impossible to comprehend, as it would 
be impossible to contradict. Among these the 
destruction of the world in the days of Noah, 
when the fountains of the great deep were 
broken up, is a memorable instance : and, as 
such it seems, purposely, corroborated by 
testimony different from every other. Its 
truth is not, merely, established by the Mo- 
saic account, but, stands confirmed by the 
different traditions of pagan nations, Greeks 
and Romans, Chinese, Persians, and proba- 
bly by many others in the interior of the 
Asiatic continent ! Clear, however, as this 
important fact appears from sacred and pro- 
phane writers, it receives still further additional 
corroboration from a circumstance unknown 
to many and considered by few, which is the 
mutilated state visible in various districts of the 
globe; islands, torn from continents, frightful 






UNIVERSAL DELUGE. 125 

caverns, dangerous cliffs, argillaceous strata 
on one coast exactly corresponding with the 
opposite shores of another 43 , barren rocks 44 on 
the surface of vegetable soils, subterraneous 
rivers 45 and volcanic fires 46 . That the earth 
has actually experienced some great change 
since its original formation, seems credible be- 
yond all doubt to any one conversant in the or- 
der of fossils found in countless multitudes at 
every depth, in all countries, wherever the 
hand of industry has displaced the external 
surface, or permeate d the depths below. To A*fi , 
specify particulars might amuse the reader ; ^ 
but would far exceed the design of this little 
work. To turn the doubtful and to excite the 
inconsiderate, a few of the most remarkable 
instances, I trust, will be sufficient. 

In the Gulph of Venice, on the Coast of 
Dalmatia, 1. 43. there is a small island deline- 
ated in foreign charts, so full of human bones, 
at all depths, constituting as it were, in many 
places, part of the rock, that it is called Os- 
sero. An excellent specimen of a skull, im- 
pregnated with matter in no respect different 
from stone, and confidently reported to re- 
semble the stratum from whence it was #aken. 



126 UNIVERSAL DELUGE. 

,* <*> with the entire teeth of the upper jaw, and si- 
milar to what have been hewn out while form- 
ing the military works of Gibraltar, was depo- 
sited in the library of Sidney-college early in 
the 17th century, where it may be seen unto 
this day. From the bed of the river at Har- 
wich, have been drawn up teeth and bones 
of elephants. A little previous to the publi- 
cation of Morton's History of Northampton- 
shire, a complete skeleton of a lion was disco- 
vered in the slate quarries at Weldon : where 
also, in 1792, some laborers surprised the 
parochial minister Mr. Ray with some huge 
bones, which Dr. John Hunter did not scruple 
to declare belonged to a rhinoceros. These 
were taken out of a gravel pit in the same pa- 
rish. Parts of crocodiles are not uncommon 
on the coasts of Wilts, and Devonshire. A 
shell of a tortoise was found in the perforation 
at Highgate. Minor examples without, num- 
ber might be adduced, as the exuviae^ of fish 
sometimes so little injured, as to make it dif- 
ficult to distinguish them from the existing 
species : trees in coal pits and below the level 
of the sea : impressions of plants peculiar to 
the eastern world : all conducing to prove the 

t^ly/i:^. ^^^^^^v /j/^>^^ /^ 



UNIVERSAL DELUGE. 127 

supposition that animal and vegetable bodies, 
retaining their adhesive power, were, gene- 
rally, intermixed in the dissolving chaos ; and 
there deposited when the rain from Heaven 
was restrained, and where they still remain, 
forming part of an incontrovertible proof of the 
amazing power of a wise, and eternal God, 
whose way is in the sea : whose footsteps are 
not known ! 

If the superficies of the earth does actually 
present an appearance of having undergone 
some material change since the creation : if 
its external strata, as far as man is able to ex- 
plore, do actually contain the vestiges of 
prae-existing life : these must be attributed to 
some cause : which we have the best reasons 
to believe was the deluge, that in the days of 
Noah, we are told, covered all the high hill 
under the whole heaven. > 

Let no one, then, presume to doubt or dis- 
believe What he has not faculties to compre- 
hend : let him rather reflect in silence : let 
him humbly adore the wisdom of that being* 
who, in the beginning created the heaven and 
the earth : who, at his pleasure, strengthens 
the fountains of the great deep : who maketh 



128 UNIVERSAL DELUGE. ^^ 

Arcturus, Orion, and the Pleiades: yea, 
whose works it is impossible to find out. 

May the sun, which shines on me by day, 
and the moon, which guides me by night: 
may the air I breathe : may the earth, which 
carries and sustains me : may nature, animate 
and inanimate, so kindly framed to supply 
my wants and to multiply my pleasures, wit- 
ness against me, now and ever, O Heavenly 
Father, if I ungratefully neglect, through the 
merits of my Savior to thank Thee for the 
past, to implore Thee for future blessings, to 
contemplate and admire thy wondrous works. 
Amen. 



EARTHQUAKE, THUNDER AND LIGHTNING. 

Among the awful visitations, to which the 
world is subject, the earthquake stands fore^ 
most: among the manifold blessings, with 
which our island abounds, exemption from 
this direful calamity, except in a very distant 
degree, scarcely once, perhaps, perceivable 
during the life of man, is most prominent. 



EARTHQUAKE, &C, 129 

As few, or none have, ever, experienced 
any thing so tremendous : it will be difficult, 
even, to conceive a scene perilous beyond 
extreme. Fancy to yourselves, however, what 
has, actually, happened, and what, therefore, 
may happen again. Imagine, in a country 
situate on the fairest portion of the globe, en- 
joying the blessings of peace and plenty, 
amidst the general serenity of birds singing, 
cattle grazing, farmers working, as usual, in 
the fields : women grinding at the mill : some 
marrying, others given in marriage : men all 
chearfully engaged in their various stations : 
the earth, suddenly, at an instant, opening 
and swallowing up Dathan, and covering the 
congregation of Abiram. Imagine the Ita- 
lian cities *, whose ruins, the lugubrious mo- 
nument of divine wrath, have, lately, been 
discovered, sinking with their inhabitants into 
a tremendous gulph, far below the natural le- 
vel : over which, in a few years, a new surface 
has arisen, productive of corn and woodlands; 
but, the fate of Lisbon, Messena, and the 
Curacoa 49 , recent examples of omnipotence 
within the memory of the existing race, place 



^*^£r~ 




I 30 EARTHQUAKE, &c. 

the possibility of these awful facts beyond dis- 
pute. 

Second to the earthquake, whose extreme 
effects are providentially limited to some par- 
ticular countries : the sound of God Al- 
mighty's thunder goeth out into all lands, and 
its attendant lightning unto the ends of the 
earth. We must not, however, consider these, 
merely, as intentional afflictions, though for 
wise reasons, they are sometimes, used as 
such : rather, modes of the divine dealing* 
with mankind : who speaketh not only by his 
revealed instructions in the Scriptures, but, 
by these tremendous instruments of his power, 
a language intelligible to all nations, always. 
In this, as in all other acts of his providence, 
the Supreme Being seems actuated by a prin- 
ciple of love towards mankind : in purifying 
the air, dispelling the storms, ripening the 
fruits, and, what is of far greater consequence, 
admonishing us by his inflictions to render 
ourselves proper objects of his mercy. 

Thus, does the Almighty Ruler of the Uni- 
verse give man, every where, in every town, 
in every village, and in every corner of the 



EARTHQUAKE, &C. 13 1 

country, from Dan even to Beersheba 50 , these 
striking intimations of his irresistible power, 
of his unsearchable wisctam, of his unutterable 
goodness, and, occasionally, of his avenging 
justice. 

Who, then, having once heard the thunder 
pealing over his head, seen the whole firma- 
ment oi Heaven illumined by the lightning, 
felt the -d.: ander his feet, or wit- 

nessed the hocks scattered by the irresistible 
thunderbolts, w hich split the unwedgable and 
knarlei oak," dash in pieces the proudest py- 
ramids 51 of art, and deprive the unwary of in- 
stant life, shall presume to stand in thy pre- 
sence undismayed, and shall dare to taunt, 
when thy judgments are abroad in the earth, 
O Lord God Almighty, whose infinite spirit, 
which, at first, formed the world, though in* 
visible to us, is intimately present to every 
part, and from age to age, superintends and 
animates the whole. 

My son, be advised, while it is permitted 
thee, to stand in awe and sin not : let not the 
sun go down upon thy wrath : hast thou 
sinned? do so no more; but, ask pardon, for 
thy former sins. Serve the Lord in fear, and 



132 EARTHQUAKE, &C. 

rejoice unto him with reverence, for having 
kindly assigned thy lot in a land blessed with 
such a variety of blessings. Amen, for Christ's 
Jesus sake. 



SEASONS. 

To those, whose daily habits lead them to 
dwell in the open air 52 , it must be obvious chat 
an uninterrupted series of warm weather would 
be unwholesome : perpetual heat intolerable : 
and continual cold equally injurious to animal 
and vegetable life. In the aequatorial regions, 
as well as in those adjacent to the polar circles, 
there are two seasons actually different. In the 
one, the scorching period continues seven or 
eight months: which is regularly succeeded 
by dismal rains M throughout the remaining 
year. In the other: the summer does not ex- 
ceed three or four, towards the close of which 
the heat, gathering day by day, under succes- 
sive suns, becomes, at last, excessively op- 
pressive 54 . The ensuing winter is, of course, 
cold, long, and dismal. It is, only, in the 
temperate climates, that the inhabitants are 



SEASONS. 153 

blessed with four regular vicissitudes. In what 
part of the earth, does the divine wisdom 
shine more conspicuous, than throughout our 
own country, where the heat, gradually de- 
creasing with the declining summer and short- 
ening autumn, allows the fruits to ripen by 
degrees, and favors the labors of the in- 
dustrious husbandman, in filling his barns with 
all manner of store : where too, on the con- 
trary, after the end of winter, the rising spring 
with the lengthening days, and the increasing 
heat of the sun, contribute to revive all ani- 
mated nature, assisting each in its growth, 
every herb yielding seed in the field, and in 
the garden, every tree of the forest, from the 
lowly hawthorn to the royal oak, every beast 
of the earth, every fowl of the air, and every 
living thing that creepeth upon the earth, to 
the end of summer ? 

Does not, then, this variety of the seasons, 
heightened in our own country beyond all 
others by the frequent variations in the wea- 
ther during, what we call, the most settled 
periods, as well as by the refreshing breeze of 
every returning evening, deserve our admira- 
tion ? Ought it not to excite our gratitude 
G 



134 SEASONS. 

and secure our love towards that eternal being, 
who cannot worthily be praised ? 

O Lord our governor ! whose namQ is, in 
no respect, more excellent throughout the 
world than in this merciful act of thy provi- 
dence, of adapting the different seasons of the 
year, as well as the vicissitudes of day and 
night, to the common benefit of mankind : 
May the rising spring excite my industry ! 
may the growing summer improve my talents ! 
may the abundant autumn increase my grati- 
tude ! may the seasonable cold of winter re- 
mind me of the necessities of my fellow- crea- 
tures ! may the outgoings of the evening and 
of the morning call forth my praises ! and may 
no period of my life pass unheeded by, with- 
out my promptness to adore Thee, the foun- 
tain of all goodness, which was, and is, and 
ever will be. Amen, 



EMPLOYMENT OF TIME. 

If the glory of God and the happiness of 
man be thy " ultimate end and aim," though 
many things may arise to impede and foil thy 



EMPLOYMENT OF TIME, 135 

laudable pursuits : from the pride of some, 
from the obstinacy of others, from the ill will 
of more, from the treachery of friends, and 
from the malevolence of enemies : still, if 
thou hast but patience to endure, thou shalt 
finally overcome. Persevere. If God does 
not crown thy virtuous efforts with immediate 
success: it is not that he either forgets or 
overlooks thee, but, that thy day of trial is net 
over, nor the time of retribution yet arrived. 
Endure, and thou shalt overcome. The glory 
of God shall be thy ^reward. Determined 
perseverance is sure to conquer 55 . God ne- 
ver abandons the upright and sincere. En- 
deavor to be first in thy calling, whatever it 
be. Let no man outshine thee in well-doing: 
so, although thou mayest not be able, always, 
to excel ; yet, if thou makest a proper use of 
the religious talent committed to thy care, 
losing no time, omitting no opportunity to do 
good during thy time of trial, here : in the far 
more important scene that is to commence, 
hereafter, thou shalt shine as the brightness 
of the firmament, with the righteous for ever 
and ever. 

G 2 



136 EMPLOYMENT OF TIME. 

Defer not till to-morrow what you can do 
with equal convenience to-day. The morrow 
may never come. Waste not the meanest 
trifle, either of time or of any thing, while, 
with equal convenience it may be applied to 
any purpose. Not one single moment ought 
to pass unprofitably by. Of the past, it is 
vain to account : the present only is your own : 
the next, though near, may be denied you. 
To every hour either some necessary duty, 
some rational delight, or some useful employ- 
ment was intended to be annexed 56 . Surcharge 
not the arriving day with affairs, which belong 
not to it. What you neglect to do in its pro- 
per season, will probably thrust itself upon 
you at some inconvenient and unlooked for 
hour. To every thing there is a season, and 
a time for every purpose under heaven. God 
and man, time and eternity, one day our own, 
another the welfare of our country or the con- 
cerns of others, arise in succession to our view, 
and ought strongly to attract our care. As ig- 
norance and vice in maturer age are, gene- 
rally, the certain consequences of neglected 
youth: just so, pain, poverty, and sorrow, 
towards the evening of life, frequently arise 



EMPLOYMENT OF TIME. 137 

from idleness in manhood. Man is a social 
being : he was not created for self-gratifica- 
tion only; but, for the general good of the 
whole human race. Try, therefore, to make 
yourself useful in this life, in order that you 
may be eternally happy in the next. Let the 
rewards, which the system of our holy reli- 
gion holds up to our view, awaken your ambi- 
tion, and animate your pursuit : let them ex- 
cite you to stretch every nerve, to set every 
faculty at work, to run not only with speed, 
but, with patience, also, the race that is set 
before you 47 . 



INTEMPERANCE. 

58 " It is not, nor it cannot, come to good." 
No truth is more evident to those, whom 
length of days, aided by reflection, has ena- 
bled to observe the consequences of intempe- 
rate drinking. The remark of such serious 
and good people is, that this vice, however 
pleasing and delusive, at first, never fails to 
operate and end, sooner or later, in one or in 
all the four following ways. 



138 INTEMPERANCE . 

1* Rain of the constitution. 

2. Destruction of property, 

3. Loss of character. 

4. Mental depression. 

Considering then, the various evils, which 
are sure, some day, to ensue from the above 
impure source : let us see how we may avoid 
them. This is to be effected only by invoking 
the divine goodness to assist us in our reflec- 
tions, and to hear our prayers. 

Do I pursue all those modes of life, which 
tend to keep my body in soberness and to 
preserve my mind in a Christian temper? Am 
I attentive to my business throughout the en- 
tire six days ? On the seventh do I regularly 
repair to church I and, there, in presence of 
my God, and before my neighbors let my light 
so shine, that they may see my good works ? 
Do I, ever, retire to my chamber, and medi- 
tate in silence ? When I seek for company, 
am I cautious in selecting such only as is so- 
ber, cheerful, and improving ? If, ever, for 
that must sometimes happen, I am compelled to 
dwell with Mesech, do I tarry long at the wine, 
or do I consider promptly what is set before me, 
and so retire, before it inflames me, calmly 



INTEMPERANCE. 139 

and decently to my house ? Am I, habitually, 
temperate, at all times and in all places ; or, 
am I only so at home, where my own pocket 
must pay for my indulgence ? Do I meanly 
give way to my appetites abroad, when wine 
giveth color in the cup, at feasts and entertain- 
ments, where the hospitality of my neighbors 
and the liberality of the public exceed my 
prudence, as well as their ability to indulge 
me ? Or does not my life, instead, of some 
casual deviations from the strict rules of so- 
briety, present one continued picture of 
chambering and excess ? If rich ? what ac- 
count shall I be able to give for the abuse of 
that abundance, with which a bountiful provi- 
dence has blessed me, the superfluity of 
which would have made many poor persons 
healthy and happy ? If poor ? Have I no 
aged parents, whom I thus, dishonor, no wife 
sorrowing in private, no small children in 
want of bread, no relatives ashamed of my 
misconduct, nor any creditors, whom my in- 
temperance defrauds ? Am I not growing 
daily older, becoming gradually weaker, and 
approaching nearer to the grave ? Shall I not 
be called to judgement, to account for the 



1 40 INTEMPERANCE. 

rious acts of my misspent life ? If, then, I 
have any serious thoughts of another world, 
surely it is high time to amend in this, before 
I be too far stricken in years, and to implore 
God to renew a right spirit within me ? 

O bounteous Lord! "whose goodness is so 
unmatchable," look down I humbly pray, upon 
me, whom for wise reasons Thou hast placed 
in the midst of various temptations. Enable 
me to adopt, day by day, such habits of tem- 
perance in private as may not dishonor that 
pure example of abstinence for my sake : when 
my avocations call me into public, strengthen 
me by thy grace to take heed to my ways, 
lest by giving reins to my appetites, I give of* 
fence to Thee : and grant that I may conduct 
myself so abstemiously, upon all occasions, as 
to look forward without terror to that awful 
hour, which will dissolve my connections with 
this world, and bring me into thy glorious pre- 
sence in the next. This prayer I earnestly 
address to thy divine majesty, in the name 
and through the mediation of Him, who has 
taught us by word and deed, that denying un- 
godliness and worldly lusts, we should live so- 
berly, righteously, and godly in this present 
world. Amen. 



141 



CRUELTY. 

This is a disposition of the mind that de- 
lights in hurting any part of animated nature. 
Of all the vices, which afflict the world, none 
surely has so little self-gratification, none it 
more repugnant to the mild spirit of Christi- 
anity, and consequently none more abomina- 
ble in the eye of God and of all good men. 

In what state of life am I placed ? am I a 
man under authority, having hired servants, 
orphan apprentices, or soldiers under me ? 
how do I treat them ? are they allowed a suf- 
ficient quantity of wholesome food, of com- 
fortable raiment, and supplied with all things 
needful to their dependent state ? Do I treat 
them kindly ? Do I not only permit them to 
go to church on the sabbath day ; but, do I, 
moreover, encorage them, by the regularity 
of my own example ? Instead of this merciful 
line of conduct, am I not in habits of rigo- 
rously enacting more than I ought ? Not con- 
tent with six days labor, have I not cruelly 
G 5 



142 CRUELTY. 

required somewhat of the seventh also, either 
employing them unnecessarily at home, or 
sending them frivolously abroad ? Have I not 
compelled them to eat such food, as I could 
not endure at my own table, or not allowed 
them enough of the same quality, of which I 
daily partake ? Do I not use my apprentice 
harshly, cloathing him meanly, feeding him 
poorly, and beating him continually far be- 
yond the reason of his fault ? Do I not carry 
myself imperiously towards those illiterate pri- 
vates, whom the laws of my country have put 
under my command for its defence, without 
even once calling to mind, the kind behavior 
of Cornelius, the good centurion, which re* 
commended him to the special favor of the 
Almighty ? 

We derive so much from dumb animals, 
both with respect to utility and pleasure, that 
to pass them over unnoticed, would be un- 
grateful to that bountiful parent, who is their 
Creator as well as ours. 

Of the reclaimed kind there are four, which 
ought to stand pre-eminent in our affections. 

These are the 

Horse, 



CRUELTY. 143 

Ox, 

Sheep, 

and 

Dog. 

1. From what other creature, in this coun- 
try, does man derive so much essential ser- 
vice ? It tills the ground and fills our barns 
with autumnal plenty: submits to anything 
and refuses nothing : is bold in battle, pleased 
to carry his master in the chace, exhausts his 
strength, and even, not unfrequently, when 
barbarously treated by his unfeeling driver, 
expires under the impending thong, in trying 
to do more than he is able. 

2. What it wants in swiftness, it amply 
compensates by supplying our necessities, 
daily, in several ways, too obvious to remind 
the butcher, the husbandman, or, in fact, 
any one whatever his degree in life may be, 
whose morning, mid -day, or evening repast 
ought to stimulate him to treat it with that 
kindness, represented in scripture to be a 
striking feature in the character of a righteous 
man. 

3. This matchless animal selected by our 
blessed Lord himself, as the symbol of inno- 



144 CRUELTY. 

cence, fills our pockets with gold, enriches 
our pastures, furnishes our tables, and sup- 
plies us with more cloathing than all other 
animals in the world together. 

4. Notwithstanding it is inferior, in point 
of mere utility, to the three preceding, its 
services, though of a different kind, are such 
as could not easily be dispensed with: it 
guards the property, protects the person, and 
animates the spirit of its master by its saga- 
cious actions, and cheering notes in the chase. 
In fine, the dog, of all other creatures, which 
the Lord God hath made, may be, fairly, 
called the symbol of fidelity to mankind. 

How am I circumstanced, with regard to 
the first of these valuable gifts of my kind 
Creator ? If master of a horse, do I indicate 
a due sense of gratitude by shewing mercy to 
my beast, in humble imitation of him, who 
taketh care of all ? Whether at home or on a 
journey, do I omit to feed it regularly w , "clap- 
ping its affectionate neck/' encoraging it with 
my voice, and exciting it by the lenity of my 
gestures, rarely beating it, never intempe- 
rately, and only when in fault, or, forgetful 
of my generous benefactor, am I apt to treat 



CRUELTY. 145 

my faithful slave, as though it had no feeling : 
riding, driving, or spurring it unmercifully, 
paying no attention to feeding it generally, or 
nursing it after long journeys as I ought to 
do ? If a servant, how do I, in this respect, 
discharge my trust ? In habits of driving post 
on the public roads, do I use my earthly master 
according to that fair rule of my heavenly mas- 
ter, doing as I would be done by, in treating 
his horses as though they were my own, and 
as though my bread depended on their well 
being ? On the contrary, do I drive thern 
cruelly without regard to weather, and leave 
them reeking at the doors of bad publicans, 
with whom I spend many a fleeting hour in 
drinking away what belongs to their nourish- 
ment and comfort? Thus torturing and 
shortening the lives of those poor animals : so 
finding myself wrong I am led by degrees, to 
set aside all scruples and to tell a deliberate 
falsehood before my master's face, to escape 
detection of a crime, which, if not checked in 
time, will prove much worse in its future con- 
sequences to me, than to those whom I, now, 
so wickedly abuse ? 



146 CRUELTY. 

Am I in the service of a farmer, who taking 
me for a trusty man, covenants for a certain 
annual sum, and commits to my care the ma- 
nagement of his team, whereon depend the 
cultivation of his farm, the exportation of its 
produce, the regular payment of his rent and 
taxes, together with the aggregate welfare of 
his family, besides my wages ? Do I ever 
consider the high importance of my trust and 
exert myself accordingly, rising early, parti- 
cularly in seed's time and in harvest, to feed 
and dress them before the commencement of 
the long laboring day ? Do I work them stea- 
dily, taking every little opportunity of giving 
them ease and refreshment, that they may be 
strong to labor? In journeyings often on the 
public road, do I drive them cautiously, and 
watch their motions in walking steadily by their 
sides ? or, so long as they get on, do I mind 
not how : either riding carelessly on the shafts, 
sleeping on the waggon, or loitering at a dis- 
tance, thereby endangering their safety, as 
well as the lives of all his majesty's subjects, 
who chance to meet me ? Instead of being 
thus alert at my point of duty, am I not indo- 



CRUELTY. 147 

lent in a morning, and, do I consequently 
neglect them ? When stalled, either through 
the badness of the roads, or by an overmuch 
imposing load, have I not passionately flogged 
them often, never attempting to put my 
shoulder to the wheel, or to use other modes 
of help, and good-naturedly encoraged them? 
So have I not cruelly injured the property of 
my master, and thereby shewn myself unwor- 
thy of the least of thy mercies, O God, whose 
nature and property is ever to have mercy. 

Am I possessed of the second ? have I a 
yoke of oxen to plough my farm ? have I cows, 
to supply me with the various necessaries of a 
dairy ? Am I solicitous to reward their daily 
services by a general kindness : feeding them 
regularly, and keeping them warm under the 
rigor of winter ? Contrariwise, am I not in 
habits of treating them morosely : using op- 
probrious language, striking them with im- 
proper instruments, because they do not move 
fast enough to please my humor : and keeping 
them cold and badly, just as if the same pro- 
vident being, who formed their bodies, had 
forgotten to give them feelings like me I 



148 CRUELTY. 

What have I to do with the third ? Am I 
the fortunate proprietor of a flock : or, for an 
annual sum of money, do I superintend it for 
another more opulent than myself? In either 
case, do I endeavor to the best of my ability 
to merit God's unspeakable kindness, in an in- 
stance productive of so much comfort to the 
human race : by using this inoffensive crea- 
ture with the tenderness it merits at my hands? 
On the contrary, do I barbarously treat it, by 
setting my dog to tear its ears in fetching it 
back when separated from the flock, leaving 
it to be tormented with insects during the op- 
pressive heat of summer, or neglecting it to 
pine with bad food amid the wets of winter? 

If such is my conduct : how unworthy am I 
of that wholesome food, and warm cloathing, 
which a kind providence affords me in this in- 
nocent and matchless animal ! How can I ex- 
pect mercy from the Father of all mercies, 
while I deliberately and cruelly with-hold it 
from so valuable a part of his handy works ? 

Have I a fourth of these his good things to 
guard my property, to defend my person, to 
keep watch over my flock, to amuse me in the 



CRUELTY. 149 

field, to guard and please me in my house ? 
How do I treat this sagacious and faithful ani- 
mal ? do I reward his services by every little 
tender endearment, stroking his head when 
affectionately thrust between my knees for 
that endearing purpose, calling it cheerfully, 
speaking kindly, always, giving it the scraps 
and crumbs of my table ? or, as the common- 
ness of the divine gifts sometimes renders men 
insensible of their value : so am I not, through 
bad habits, indifferent about this ? Do I not 
return its affectionate actions towards me with 
moroseness towards it ? So long as my own 
appetites are satisfied, am I not forgetful of 
this poor affectionate animal, that watches all 
my movements, attends, even, to the cadence 
of my voice, and knoweth my very looks! 
When, in fault, as moderate chastisement, 
if, seasonably, given, is, generally, if not, 
always, sufficient, do I correct him, accord- 
ingly : or do I beat him beyond measure, not 
in the least moved by his mournful cries and 
submissive gestures ? In training him to range 
the fields, and to permeate the woodlands for 
my amusement, have I recourse to gradual 
means and frequent encoragements, or, by 



150 CRUELTY. 

the most unrelenting severity, do I not over- 
awe his temper, make him fear and hate me, 
thereby defeating my own ends ? 

Is this, then, my unfeeling mode of treating 
an animal purposely created to protect and 
serve me ? With what grace ? with what pro- 
priety can I ask the great God of Nature to 
protect me from the pestilence that walketh 
in darkness, or from the sickness that destroy- 
eth at noon day, or to hide me under his pa- 
vilion in the evil-time, unless I amend ere 
long, and shew myself by the future tenor of 
my actions, towards all his creatures* not un- 
deserving of the blessings I enjoy, and of 
those I pray for ? 

O Thou, father of mercies and God of all 
comfort ! " how do I thank Thee" for having 
placed me in dominion, over thy works ! As 
Thou, O adorable Creator, declarest thy Al- 
mighty power, most chiefly in shewing pity : 
so incline me to follow Thee, in this amiable 
perfection. Thy generous providence is be- 
nignly extended to the general welfare. To 
be cruel to dumb animals, to refuse them 
food, to deny them the common comforts of 
existence, or to oppress them wantonly, in 



CRUELTY. 151 

any way, is, manifestly, wicked : because it 
is contrary to thy goodness, which, even, de- 
scends to all those beings that are inferior to 
man ! If, then, the lower grades of thy cre- 
ation deserve my attention, how much more 
are my fellow creatures entitled to my com- 
passion ! May I not take too much thought 
for myself! May I omit no opportunity to al- 
leviate the wants of others ! may I, never, like 
the Priest and Levite, leave the least of my 
brethren or the poorest animal to suffer, while 
it is in my power to relieve them, and, finally, 
may I by kindness to every living thing, 
throughout every day of my life, by thy me- 
rits, O blessed Jesus, be entitled to that glo- 
rious reward promised to the merciful on the 
"general all-ending day." Amen. 



SWEARING. 

Save and except the various authorities to 
be deduced from scripture, as well as the po- 
sitive necessity men are under, frequently, of 
appealing to God on affairs of temporal im- 
port, it is plain both from the words and spirit 



152 SWEARING. 

of the third commandment, that oaths are not, 
indiscriminately, prohibited. 

Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord 
thy God in vain, that is to say : you may use his 
holy name on serious and good; but, you are 
strictly prohibited on frivolous and bad occa- 
sions, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless, 
that taketh his name in vain : meaning, that 
God will punish all such as shall presume* 
thus, prophanely, "to .'break his law." To 
the former may be referred all important acts 
of truth in courts of justice : informations be- 
fore magistrates upon which warrants are 
granted for the apprehension of offenders : the 
declaration of an applicant for a marriage 
licence, and many others. Under the latter 
are included all those canting hypocritical ap- 
peals to the Supreme Being, purposely used 
with pious action " to sugar over" the interested 
designs of the deceitful, or, with a malicious 
intent to draw down a curse upon their ene- 
mies ; but, which in fact, is more likely to 
terminate in their own disgrace or ruin. The 
one is a serious acknowledgment of the provi- 
dence of that Almighty Being, whom we ven- 
ture to invoke. An oath so taken, therefore, 



SWEARING. 153 

is, unquestionably a most solemn act of reli- 
gion. So, contrariwise, the other, commonly 
called prophane swearing, is a most abomina- 
ble and loudly crying sin. Of this, surely, 
not even the most thoughtless person can long 
doubt, if he will only pause awhile and ask 
himself a few plain questions — who is that 
Being, on whose name, I so rashly and so de- 
liberately call ? The Creator and Lord of the 
Universe, who holdeth the thunder : who 
drieth up the water-flood : who setteth bounds 
to the sea : whom no man hath seen, nor can 
see : in whom we live and move and have our 
being: who gave his son to die for our sins 
and to rise again for our justification. 
To take thy name in vain ! ! ! 
Pardon me, O Lord our righteousness ! who 
hast caused the glorious light of the Gospel, 
now, to shine throughout the world, and in 
no country, with greater lustre than in our 
happy island, protected by a system of laws 
unknown to foreign nations. May it please 
Thee, " whose servant I account myself," to 
enable me to hold these acts of thy providence 
in continual remembrance ! may I shew forth 
my thankfulness by a regular course of good 



154 SWEARING. 

words and faithful works during my residence 
of trial here, through Jesus Christ our Savior, 
to whom with Thee and the Holy Ghost, be 
all honor and glory, for days, and for seasons, 
and for years, world without end. Amen. 



LYING. 

Among the catalogue of crimes, which dis- 
grace 60 and derange the good order of so- 
ciety, few, it is to be lamented, are more 
common 61 : few higher charged 62 with mis- 
chief: none attended with less gratification 63 : 
none more imprudent 64 : none more strictly 
prohibited 65 by God, nor any more generally 66 
discountenanced by all good men, than lying. 

Modern custom has not unaptly divided 
this vice into two kinds. The former is, 
generally, adopted by persons, who have in 
the course of their bad conduct some dark de- 
sign to gratify : either to create dissention in 
the neighborhood, to suppress some good, or 
to forward some bad end. The latter being 
less artful, and its intentions less mischievous^ 



LYING. 155 

reflects, like the pebble from the pavement, 
smartly in its own face, and, generally speak- 
ing, without injury to any one, except itself. 
It may not be amiss, here, to remark how 
persons of this dangerous tendency are re- 
ceived in public societies and treated in pri- 
vate circles, which may, and let us hope it 
will, insensibly operate in checking the 
shameless career of all such decayed members 
of the community: and dissuading the young 
from following their dangerous example. 
Over the former, lyars cannot, and indeed they 
ought not, to have any real influence. How 
should it be otherwise : for we all know a 
lying tongue is but for a moment" Such 
characters ought to think themseivs very for- 
tunate: if, on public occasions they meet 
with nothing worse than silent contempt. 

In the latter: they generally, are, and, ge- 
nerally, will meet with coolness : but, from 
kind and social motives, they are, for the 
most part, admitted to the indulgencies of 
social intercourse by the good people of Eng- 
land, in common with their neighbors. They, 
are, perhaps, at first, a little upon the re- 
serve, till the wine sparkleth in the cup, and 



156 LYING. 

in the rapid circulation of the glass, getting 
off their guard, they begin to display their 
evil thoughts, and to propagate their falsities. 
Some, however, are daring, open, and dif- 
fuse, always, the latter end of these men 
being no better than the beginning. Hollow 
and unsound within, directly they begin to 
shew themselves unsound without: rattling 
over rough and smooth, right or wrong : vili- 
fying and defaming without respect to the 
dead, or fear of the living ; as though there 
was neither a God to love above, or a devil to 
dread below, at all times, and in all compa- 
nies. The favorite subject of such persons, 
differs, according to their different inclina- 
tions. Often it will run on public affairs ; 
sometimes on the private concerns of their 
neighbors, and, at others, it will wander off 
into tales, which exist in no head but their 
own. With some, the sole topic is a highly 
colored display of what they have seen: of 
what they have heard : of what they know, or 
of what they possess. 

The way to walk uprigh^y is to walk surely, 
and the way to walk surely, is not only to 
hear the word of God ; but, to approve and 



LYING. 157 

speak it from the heart, to be firm and 
inflexible, always, in the cause of truth. 

OThou! whose word endureth for ever in 
Heaven, the strength of all them that put 
their trust in Thee, cast thy bright beams of 
light into my failing heart, that it, so enlight- 
ened, may not be tempted, on any occasion, 
" to speak that which is not." Because through 
the frailty of my mortal nature I cannot always 
stand upright, let thy grace, gracious Lord, 
so prevent and follow me, through the mani- 
fold changes of the world, that I may keep 
my tongue from evil-speaking, lying, and 
slandering : endeavoring to do my duty, day 
by day, truly, in this state of life, unto which 
Thou hast been pleased to call me, through 
the merits of him, who for truth's sake suf- 
fered death upon the cross. Amen. 



EXTRAVAGANCE. 

This sin consists in transgressing the bounds 
of reason, towards the indulgence of any favo- 
rite object. Various are the ways, whereby 

H 



1 58 EXTRAVAGANCE. 

men are, often, thus, led to err. Two there 
are, more common than the rest. To them, 
therefore, the attention of the reader is, now, 
particularly requested. 

They are Gaiety's r Dress. 
and lofJ 
Luxury J Lthe Table. 
It must be plain, even, to the most super- 
ficial observer, that a superintending provi- 
dence has amply supplied the people of this 
kingdom with four valuable articles 68 of rai- 
ment, which in the course of trade, are inge- 
niously manufactured into a beautiful diversity 
of forms, to suit the real or fanciful conve- 
nience of every order, and, to gratify the va- 
nity of the vainest. Of each sort, arrayed in 
the windows of shops throughout the principal 
market towns, no one is at full liberty to take 
indiscriminately, to please his tumor; but, to 
select, rather, with care, such and such only, 
as are within the easy compass of his purse, 
and adapted to his state in life, doing all things 
decently and in order. If, on the contrary, 
he suffers himself to be hurried down the cur- 
rent of fashion, without ceconomy : and trifles 
away his days in the foppery of dress, neglect- 



EXTRAVAGANCE. 159 

ing to pay his way, he will ere long find his 
mistake. What, at first, perhaps, was no 
more than a venial error, becomes, in time, 
a dangerous transgression, and ends, at last, 
in an unpardonable crime. Like the dog in 
the fable, he gives up the substance for the 
shadow : he loses the esteem of all good 
men, and what is far more momentous, for- 
feits the love of God, to whom, in his infant 
days, he was bound, and has, now, taken that 
solemn vow upon himself to renounce the 
pomp and vanity of the world. 

Stupid, indeed, must be the man, who 
does not see that the same kind being, who 
provides for the various appetites and different 
constitutions of mankind, in the different cli- 
mates of the earth, and in different situations 
of the world, has displayed his bountiful good- 
ness, in this instance, still more diffusely. 
Of no one individual article of animal and ve- 
getable food, a variety bordering on infinity, 
is man forbid to eat. Still, his liberty, in this 
respect, is conditional, and, for wise reasons, 
subject to controul : if this had not been so 
ordered, it would soon degenerate into licen- 
tiousness. His passions are to be regulated by the 
M 2 



1 60 EXTRAVAGANCE. 

rules of reason, using the world, as not ab- 
using it. To use the world, means a participa- 
tion of the divine blessings, day by day, in 
such manner, as to keep the body in tempe- 
rance, soberness, and chastity. To abuse it, 
is to give way to luxury and voluptuousness. 
Every one may be said to do this, who, in a 
greater or less degree, consumes either upon 
himself, carelessly, or knowing permits any 
part of his family to waste a greater quantity, 
variety, or more expensive food, than is 
necessary to the comfortable sustentation of 
life 5 consistent with his income, and adapted 
to his rank : seeking to justify his extrava- 
gance by no better argument than the fashion 
of the times, and the pretended necessity of 
living like others in the circumjacent neigh- 
borhood. 

Whatever, then, may be your station on 
the common theatre of the world : Lord of vast 
domains : or, should it be "your lot to be lowly 
born, and to range with humble livers" 63 
"in the open air," let your moderation be 
known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. 
The liberal giver will not fail to punish 
the extravagant abuser. From time to time 



EXTRAVAGANCE. 16 i 

be persuaded to examine your affairs, and to 
regulate your expences according to your 
increasing or diminishing revenue. Provide 
what is necessary, before you venture to in- 
dulge in superfluities. Study to do justly, be- 
fore you assume the vain pomp of liberality. 
The young, be it understood, are not ex- 
pected to give up their gaiety : the rich to 
decline their opulence, nor the great to lay 
aside their grandeur : but, no one's liberty is 
to be converted into licentiousness, his opu- 
lence into extravagance, or his greatness into 
tyranny. In the midst of self-enjoyment, for- 
get not what is promised to him, who dealeth 
bread to the hungry and covereth the naked 
with a garment. Remember, then, that your 
well-being in another life depends, in a great 
degree, upon your sober and temperate beha- 
vior in this. Be persuaded, to retreat in time 
before you be carried too far : lest the harp 
and the viol invite thee to indulge in the fan- 
cied dainties of the table, before your extra- 
vagance becomes disgraceful to your charac- 
ter, injurious to your health, hurtful to your 
affairs, pernicious to the world, and dangerous 
to your own soul. 



1 62 EXTRAVAGANCE. 

O Thou ! who art, always, ready to promote 
the felicity of thy chosen ; I thank Thee for 
the various blessings with which I am sur- 
rounded here : give me grace to use such abs- 
tinence, as may encorage me to be humane 
to my inferiors, generous to my equals, and 
just to all, through the merits of thy son Je- 
sus Christ, who fasted 40 days and 40 nights 
for my sake. Amen. 



REVENGE. 

Passions are powerful emotions of the mind, 
arising, generally from the pleasing expecta- 
tion of good, or occasioned by the painful ap- 
prehension of evil ; but, this is different from 
every other, and is one of the very worst that 
can afflict the human breast. It proceeds from 
an impression of a real, or supposed injury re- 
ceived in time past, worked up into a settled 
determination of returning it in future. While 
limited to the intention, it is malice. No 
sooner does it extend to the executive part, 
than it assumes a name, at which every vir* 



REVENGE. I63 

tuous man must shudder — Revenge — a sin di- 
rectly contrary to the mild law of Christianity, 
inconsistent with the general law of nature, 
and, punishable by the common law of man. 

To prove the first, passages, almost, innu- 
merable may be adduced from Scripture. 
Two more striking than the rest, it is hoped, 
will make a due impression upon the young 
reader's mind. Thou shalt not avenge nor bear 
any grudge against the children of thy people. 
Such the precept of the celebrated legislator 
of Israel; but what says the great Christian 
legislator ? If thine enemy hunger, feed him ? 
Why so? Because by so doing, Thou snalt 
heap coals of fire upon his head : meaning, by 
such kind behavior, we are more likely to 
soften, and ameliorate a revengeful disposi- 
tion, than by returning evil for evil, merely 
for evil-sake without any good to ourselves. 
In confirmation of the second, it may be asked: 
whether God's mode of dealing with mankind 
throughout the spiritual and material world is 
not one uniform system of love ? If, then, the 
divine being hath so displayed his kindness 
towards us in his works* ought not we to in- 
dicate similar affections in our intercourse with 



164 REVENGE. 

one another: always remembering, that being, 
at present, inhabitants of this world, we must 
in a proper degree, think and act as such : 
and never forgetting that we are, one day, to 
become inhabitants of another. With regard 
to the third — the human, in imitation of the 
divine law, pardons the infirmity of anger, 
provided we use such means to suppress it, as 
reason and religion conjointly recommend, and 
do all we can to prevent it from hurrying us 
on to deliberate and distant sin. Whenever 
that is the case : if, at any time too it unhap- 
pily terminates in acts highly injurious to in- 
dividual or general welfare: it then becomes 
amenable to different degrees of punishment : 
and in extreme cases, leads even to death it* 
self. 

Seeing how displeasing the indulgence of 
this passion is to the Almighty, because it mi- 
litates against the happiness of his creatures : 
we should each endeavor to walk worthy of the 
vocation, whereunto we are severally called : 
in lowliness preferring one another, endea- 
voring to correct and regulate a passion, which 
no human being, in its first stage, is ever able 
utterly to annihilate : though certainly, in a 



REVENGE. 165 

great degree so to soften and amend, as to 
prevent its hurrying him on to the commission 
of those sins, which rarely fail, in a greater 
or less degree, to bring disgrace or ruin on 
the head of every such deliberate offender. 
To effect so necessary and so practicable a 
work, the following suggestions are, confi- 
dently, subjoined. 

In resenting a real injury, or pretended af- 
front, consider what object you have in view ! 
Certainly, either punishment or amendment 
on one side : security, or satisfaction, on the 
other. Dangerous, indeed, would it be to 
the interests of society, to put the former in 
the hands of the offended. In various in- 
stances, therefore, where the divine law, dur- 
ing the present state of -things, stands at an 
awful distance : the human is permitted to 
interpose. The latter is, generally, much 
more easily secured by kindness : the fruits of 
which, even, in the worst instances, are, com- 
monly, immediate satisfaction and future 
security : for who is he, that will harm you, if 
ye be followers of that which is good ? 

A forward step of preparation towards meet- 
ing offences properly from other people, is to 
H5 



166 REVENGE. 

endeavor, as much as lieth in us, to give none 
ourselves. It must needs be that offences will 
come; but, woe to that man, by whom the 
offence, revengeful, cometh ! Cautious con- 
duct in the moral is just as necessary as a 
steady pilot on the material ocean. It will 
teach us, to steer safely often, not always. 
When we do happen to strike, it will either 
enable us to get clear off, or to manage well 
what could not be avoided. 

A consciousness of offences which we our- 
selves have individually given, is likely to keep 
our temper cool and our judgement unclouded 
against those we are sure, one time or other, to 
receive in return. To obtain this happy frame 
of mind, we must reflect often on our own im- 
perfections, and, be constant to pray God to 
enable us to forgive others, as we hope to be 
forgiven. In trivial matters, wherein the law 
of the land is inactive, it is a pretty strong 
hint that we ought to be inactive too : over- 
looking some, forgetting others, forgiving 
more, and revenging none. When we are, 
thus, impartially, disposed to consider our 
own conduct: it will be generally found that, 
whether we look to the offender or offended, 



REVENGE, 167 

motives for forbearance will appear, much 
stronger than for resentment. 

May all bitterness and wrath : may anger 
and clamor, and evil -speaking, be put away, 
from us, with all malice : may we be kind one 
to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one ano- 
ther, as God for Christ's sake forgiveth us. 
Amen, 

FOR THE YOUNG. 

O ! Almighty God ! Creator and ruler ot 
the world ! who hast graciously condescended 
to bring me into existence, to the powers of 
my body hast wonderfully united the far more 
excellent faculties of an immortal soul : by thy 
providential care hast preserved me through 
the various perils incident to early years : and 
hast, now, raised me up towards maturity : 
make me, I earnestly, pray, who am unable 
to do any good thing without Thee, thoroughly 
sensible of the dependant situation wherein I 
stood with respect to Thee ; of the duty I owe 
to my neighbor, to my nearest relatives, and 
to myself, as of that system of universal love 



168 FOR THE YOUNG. 

set forth in the Gospel of my glorified Re- 
deemer. Sobriety and moderation are virtues 
incumbent upon all men : but, more especially 
upon me, who am beginning the public jour- 

. ney of my life. O my Father ! Give me favor 
m thy sight to take heed, daily, to my ways 
that I offend not : to ponder my paths, that 
my footsteps slip not. Industry being the 
only engine of improvement, the road to every 
ratipr^l^leltght, the vehicle of public prospe- 
rity and of private wealth, teach me, always, 
to consider time of such inestimable value, as 
never to suffer one moment to pass idly or un- 
profitably by. As truth is the foundation and 
the ornament to every virtue : as falsehood in 
youth dbscures the lustre of every improve^ 
ment, is the sad and generally unerring pre- 
sage of perfidy in old age : assist me merci- 
fully with heavenly aid, boldly to withstand 
the temptations of the world, and to speak 
the truth freely from my heart, doing upon all 
occasions by others, as I would they should do 
unto me. 

)C As obedience belongs to youth : may I di- 
ligently endeavor to learn of Him, who was 
meek and lowly of heart, never to think of 



FOR THE YOUNG. 169 

myself more highly than I ought, but, to seek 
Thee early, O thou supreme disposer of all 
events : to behave myself reverently to my pa- 
rents : submissively to all my betters, whether 
in knowledge, in station, or, in years ; and to 
treat those kindly, whom Thou hast placed in 
situations subordinate to my own, remember- 
ing always that solemn account, which I must 
one day give for all the various transactions of 
my days. May the uncertainty of life's en- 
joyments check my impetuous desires, and 
crush my inconsiderate ardor ! May the va- 
riety of its dangers excite my care, and in- 
crease my piety : so that, when Thou mayest 
be pleased to call me hence, I may, neither, 
be unwilling to leave this world, nor ashamed 
to appear in thy presence, through the merits 
of Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior, in the 
next. Amen. 



FOR THE AGED. 

In whatever state of life we view the condi- 
tion of man, his infirmity will be, in "no re- 
spect, more apparent than in this, now to be 



170 FOR THE AGED. 

considered. Infirm in the constitution of his 
body, infirm in the habiliments of his mind, 
he is, generally, prone to display his infirmity, 
by complaining of that very thing, which 
through every intervening period of a long 
previous life, he has, anxiously, endeavored 
to obtain. Are you, then, impatient under the 
infirmities of nature brought on by increasing 
years ? You know, in the morning, what is 
to come at noon : at noon, what is to succeed 
at night. Just sol while pleasant summers 
are gliding on, and social winters passing by ; 
remember, they are soon to come utterly to 
an end. The kind governor of the worLd " acts 
not by severe and partial, but by mild and ge- 
neral laws." This will appear clear to the convic- 
tion of every considerate man, who will take 
the trouble to reflect on what he feels passing 
within himself, and observes in others. Every 
moment of our time, more especially " the ever 
running year," continues to detract from our 
health, our strength, from the train of our 
friends and number of our relations, that in the 
course of 1 5 or 20 years, after the age of 40, 
the generality of mankind find their passions 
continually cooling, and their attractions to 



FOR THE AGED. 171 

the world daily weakening. As the cheerful 
morn stimulates to the interests of noon day, 
so H do the lengthening 7a shadows from the 
hills," accompanied with the increasing cool 
of the evening, prepare every creature for ap- 
proaching darkness. If the utmost extremity 
of life, like the autumnal tree stript of its fo~ 
liage less liable to be torn up by the fury of 
the blast, brings pleasures less calculated to 
please : we ought not to forget that its trou- 
bles are less apt to trouble us. Innumerable 
trials, which formerly rent our hearts, are, 
now, either, utterly " consigned to the rasure 
of oblivion," weakened by distant time, or 
softened by the recollection of what is past and 
gone. Having enjoyed the vivacity of youth, 
shared the happiness of manhood, and parti- 
cipated in the. general blessings of life: is it 
not equally irrational and unmanly, to be- 
moan the natural infirmities of increasing age? 
In the outset you may, with some reason, fear 
the various incidents, likely to befall you 
through the different stages of your pilgrimage 
here on earth ; but, after you have run your 
race, you ought not to be unthankful for the 
perils you have escaped, for the comforts you 



172 FOR THE AGED. 

possess, as well as for the more substantial 
joys, which, through the merits of Christ, will 
be your certain reward in a future world, for 
your virtuous exertions in the present. The 
ways of God may, sometimes, seem unequal. 
Be assured they are all ultimately good. Age, 
like the night preceded by the declining twi- 
light, takes no one by surprize, nor is it ever 
forced upon us agaiist our will. Are we not 
anxious to preserve our health ? by the daily 
choice of our food, by the variety of our 
cloathing : and if, at any time, we are sur- 
prised by accidents, or oppressed by disease : 
have we not recourse to medicine, ready to 
leave our home, and if necessity requires to 
change our climate: Arrived at the last, in 
the haven where we would be, what cause 
can any one have to complain of sustaining 
what be wished for, and what the common lot 
of existence imposes upon all alike, or with 
what confidence can he hope to invert the es- 
tablished order of nature? In the animal and 
vegetable world no sooner has each, in its 
kind, fulfilled its period, than it verges to- 
wards decay, as the sun, daily, to the West. 
It is as natural for old age to totter, as for the 



FOR THE AGED. 173 

ripened fruit to fall, or for the autumnal leaf 
to cover the woodland ground. To this law 
all that have been, all that are, and all that 
will be, must submit. Why, then, should any 
one complain of what is common, of what 
cannot be avoided, and of what it is his duty 
patiently to endure? Having finished the pe- 
rilous tract, and just ready to enter the harbor 
of tranquillity : be content to contemplate the 
streights of difficulty and dangers you have 
escaped, and to look forward without fear 
towards that " bourn you are soon sure to 
pass" forward, to the vast pacific ocean, 
on which you are soon to embark. Often 
thank God for the past ! often pray God 
that in the last little remaining part of your 
pilgrimage, he may not leave you nor forsake 
you, and that when it shall seem fit to his 
supreme wisdom to call you hence, he may 
support you, in the valley of the Shadow 
of Death with his staff, and defend you with 
his rod. 

In short, while we are indulged by the di- 
vine goodness, with the blessings of health, 
old age is, in some respects the most desire^ 
able: if life has been well spent, the recol- 



174 FOR THE AGED. 

lection of the past, and the anticipation of 
the future will afford the most satisfactory de- 
light : if, contrariwise, any one is so unhappy, 
that he cannot look back with satisfaction, he 
has, most undoubtedly, this pleasing pro* 
spect, a way fairly open to repentance, with- 
out which no man must see the Lord, and 
without the same danger of repeating his for- 
mer follies. 

O Lord! Father and Governor of all my 
whole life! I thank Thee for the variety of 
blessings I have continued to receive at thy 
hand, from my birth unto this distant day : 
as well as for the numerous evils 1 have been 
enabled, through the agency of thy daily pro- 
vidence, to avoid. May my gratitude to Thee 
be displayed, during the residue of my time, 
in cheerfully imparting to the young the use- 
ful fruits of my long experience, checking 
the froward, advising the unwary, and in- 
structing all in thy ways, patiently, after the 
precepts and example of Jesus Christ thy son, 
my Savior, and my redeemer. Amen. 



175 



DEATH. 



Man is a compound being consisting of two 
things, which, though closely connected, are 
totally different — soul and body. Their 
union is what we denominate life : the act of 
separation, death. This in every age has been 
properly called the king of terrors : because 
of all human events, it is most awful. The 
latter we are taught so to regulate by the mild 
tenets of Christianity in this world, that the 
former may be happy in the next ! God hav- 
ing, thus, blessed us with every requisite to- 
wards the attainment of so glorious an end, the 
fault will lie, individually, at the door of 
every one, who is deficient in his duty. The 
oftener we meditate on this momentous sub- 
ject, the better, it may fairly be presumed, 
we shall be prepared, and of course, the more 
reconciled to our inevitable lot. Whenever 
we are inclined to indulge in this vein of ne- 
cessary contemplation : the following obvious 
reflections may, by God's grace, enable us to 
meet death with a confidence becoming the 



176 DEATH. 

disciples of him, whose life forms a perfect 
model : whose death a glorious source of tri- 
umph to all true believers, and whose resurrec- 
tion is a plain security of our own: of a trans- 
lation from the present to a future and better 
state of existence, eternal in the heavens. 

1. Death is the general law of nature, with- 
out exception : since the day of Christianity 72 * 
a debt each and every one is bound to pay. 

2. The conditions, on which we received 
life are, that as our forefathers made room for 
us : just so are we, whenever our creator calls, 
to give place to our posterity : who, in like 
manner, as soon as their time is run, will be 
gathered to their fathers, and a new genera- 
tion will reign in their stead. 

3. If you are unwilling to depart, when the 
hour of departure comes : you deserve not to 
have been born. Does not such conduct, at 
death, u argue a monstrous life" ? 

4. It is just as reasonable, to complain that 
you did not live sooner, as to lament you are 
to live no longer : for it matters not how long, 
but, how well we live 73 : which consists not in 
long prayers without sincerity, nor in pious 
professions without good works; but, in an 



DEATH. 177 

habitual piety to Almighty God, sincere grati- 
tude to our Savior, and in an active charity 
towards our fellow creatures. These will be 
best displayed by a regular deportment at 
church : and at ail other times by the steady 
practice of all those graces which our blessed 
Lord uniformly enjoins — to forgive as we hope 
to be forgiven : to do as we would be done by, 
to be honest and industrious, sober and tem- 
perate in all things, as is elegantly and plainly 
set forth in the excellent catechism of our 
church. 

5. Whatever divine providence has deemed 
necessary, to that ought man to submit cheer- 
fully. 

6. " All that live must die, passing from na- 
ture to eternity." Why, then, is any one to 
claim exemption from mortal lot r 

7. Immutability belongs only to celestial 
beings, " while all about us are frail and pe- 
rishing." Empires rise, and rule, and fall. 
"The strongest 74 monuments of art moulder 
into dust." Between the palace and the cot- 
tage, the sovereign and the subject, in this 
respect there is no distinction. The known 
and the unknown : the conqueror and the 



178 DEATH. 

conquered "travail, alike, the road that leads 
to death 75 ," At the very instant when I ex* 
pire, thousands will be expiring too 76 . Can 
that be hard on me, which is as common to 
all, as for " the seered leaf to fall,'* or for the 
water to descend the winter's brook ? God's 
love to mankind is manifest throughout the dif- 
ferent stages of life. Why, then, should it be 
thought otherwise in death, which, is, proba- 
bly, attended with less pain than what we oft- 
times experienced? 

8. The certainty of so solemn a change lia- 
ble to happen as we daily see, at all times, to 
persons of every age and degree : should induce 
us to meet it properly : and, " not in our pee- 
vish opposition to take to heart what we know 
must be as common as the most vulgar thing to 

© © 

sense." 

9. The way to do this, is, to live well al- 
ways, as though we were soon to die. 

10. He who does so, will be prepared and 
willing to resign his life, whenever it shall 
please God to take it. 

11. A good man is related to both worlds : 
to the present, by his body : to the future, by 



DEATH. 179 

his soul : so is a bad one, though with very 
different view's. 

12. It is not sufficient, that we live all* 
along well and sin at the last, after our pas- 
sions are cooled, and the pains of death 
alarmed us. Though God is merciful : let us 
not forget that the unsullied purity of his na- 
ture requires him to be just also : as one star 
differeth from another star in glory, and as 
trees of the forest exceed each other in size 
and beauty : just so may every one, in a fu- 
ture world, expect to be rewarded or punished 
according to his deserts in the present. 

13. Since there is no man living who sin- 
neth not: it will be prudent to take care. 
He, that standeth, is, ever, liable to fall. 
Whenever you do wrong, confess yourself to 
God, and be sorry for it, for he is, ever, more 
ready to pardon than we to pray, endeavoring 
continually after this very thing, namely, to 
shew your repentance by your good works, 
and to beware lest your last error, in your old 
age, be worse than the first failings in your 
youth. 

14. It is, indispensably necessary, not only 
to begin well with life; but, to persevere 



180 DEATH. 

unto the end : keeping in mind, always, the 
great author and finisher of our faith : for it 
is the conclusion, that must determine our 
everlasting doom. 

15. The general tenor of the Gospel disco- 
rages all ideas of forgiveness without repent- 
ance. If, then, any one should be cut off in 
the midst of his unrepented sins, how can 
such an one expect to be forgiven ? 

16. Since our bountiful Lord will not fail to 
reward all the good we do : why should we 
neglect to do any when such negligence will 
only lessen our reward : or why should we be 
content to lose any degree of glory ? Behold 
the various lustre of the stars ! consider the 
different lilies of the field ! 

17. When we die, be assured we do not cease 
to be, nor cease to feel: but, cease only to 
live, as we have done in these earthly bodies. 

18. We were sent into this world, not 
merely to enjoy : nor merely to suffer : but to 
prepare ourselves for another. As we use 
it, then : so will it prove, either our friend or 
foe. 

" O Thou ! who lendest me life, lend me a 
heart replete with thankfulness to Thee/' for 



DEATH. 18 L 

the prolongation of my existence unto this 
hour, and for the unnumbered instances of thy 
goodness in every intervening period thereof. 
A variety of active duties it is incumbent on 
me, daily, to perform, as well as many tempt- 
ations, which surround me, to avoid. Fallible 
I am : I have often failed : remember not, 
Lord, my former failings I beseech Thee, 
neither take Thou vengeance of my sins : par- 
don them through the intercession of my Sa- 
vior, and dispose me by thy grace so to pass 
the various perils of this present scene, that I 
may neither too anxiously wish, nor over much 
dread the last. 

Finally, may I find mercy on that day, 
when I shall see my blessed Redeemer, com- 
ing iu the clouds of heaven, and happiness, 
through his merits in the world to come. 
Amen. 



JUDGEMENT. 

The design of our Savior's first conning was, 
the reformation and happiness of the human 
race. To accomplish this, nothing was left 
I 



182 JUDGEMENT. 

undone that could be done by precept and ex- 
ample from the beginning to the end of his 
life, which was finally, sacrificed for their 
sakes. Not satisfied with these acts of good- 
ness, he hath given an individual instance of 
his constant love towards mankind by an ad- 
mirable system of rules contained in the Gos- 
pels suitably adapted for the direction of their 
conduct throughout along succession of inter- 
vening ages, from the dawn of Christianity to 
the final consummation of all things. 

Our natural abilities, favored more or less 
by the state of life whereunto we are severally 
called, aided by the excellence of our laws, 
and still further favored by the salutary prin- 
ciples of Christianity ? of which no one in this 
country need be ignorant, conjointly enable 
us so to improve ourselves through life, as to 
become at the close thereof, acceptable in 
the divine sight. The advantage thus pro- 
ferred to every human being, is, in the figu- 
rative language of scripture, styled the talent 
entrusted to his care, during his Lord's ab- 
sence, to improve. Somewhat different, in- 
deed, though equally benevolent, is the in- 
tention of our Lord's second coming. As the 



JUDGEMENT, 183 

former was to distribute his talents : so the 
latter will be to scrutinize our accounts: that 
is, to see what respective degrees of improve- 
ment we have each made in our religious 
store, to reward our industry, or punish our 
inactivity. This investigation, so serious, and 
so important in its consequences to each, will 
most assuredly take place on the last solemn 
i6 all ending day:" when God will judge the 
world in righteousness : when the heaven shall 
pass away with a great noise and the elements 
shall melt with fervent heat : when the earth, 
also, and, the works that are therein shall be 
burned up : when they that sleep in the dust 
of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting 
life, some to shame and everlasting contempt 

Seeing that all these things shall be dis- 
solved : what manner of persons ought we to 
be in all holy conversation and godliness : 
looking for and hastening unto the coming of 
the day of our Lord Jesus Christ ? 

The day of judgement, then, will be an 
event attended with a catastrophe awful fat- 
beyond what hath, yet, entered into the mind 
of man to conceive : the final destruction of 
the world by fire. It is, in fact, an article of 
i 2 



184 JUDGEMENT. 

our faith, often alluded to in the Old Testa- 
ment, clearly predicted in the New, suggested 
by the daily appearances of nature, and con- 
firmed by reason : which ought to awaken the 
unwary, check the presumptuous, animate 
the weak, bring all to a sense of recollection, 
to exalt our sentiments, and to purify our 
lives. 

Almighty Father ! who hast given us thine 
only son to take our nature upon him, to re- 
form us by the purity of his doctrine and to 
edify us by the brightness of his example : 
make us so sensible of this inestimable benefit 
as may enable us to serve Thee, throughout 
this present life : that, in the last day, when 
he shall come again in his glorious majesty to 
judge both the quick and the dead, we may 
rise to the life immortal, through him, who 
liveth and reigneth with Thee, and the holy 
ghost, now, and for ever. Amen. 



( 135 ) 



NOTES AND QUOTATIONS. 

The Old and New Testament, at least, and the 
Works of our immortal bard, it is presumed, are so 
well known to the generality of readers, that particu- 
lar references would be needless. To the two former 
there are 314 allusions, to the latter 30. These 
together with the quotations from other authors are 
placed between inverted commas. 

1 Nemo repente, &c. Juv. 

* Venienti occurritte morbo. Hor. 

3 Hence the custom of affixing, in conspicuous 
characters, striking quotations from Scripture on the 
interior walls of churches. 

4 We are favored with a remarkable instance to 
this effect, in the history of king Asa, one amongst 
the few virtuous sovereigns of the house of Judah, 
though his conduct, in some respects, was extremely 
exceptionable. While it displays, in the most lively 
colors, the superintending providence of God, it pre- 
sents us, with a poor melancholy picture of the pride 
and folly of man. 2 Chron. 16. which for the singu- 
lar elegance of its style, as well as for the sublimity 
of its important contents, is devoutly recommended 



j36 NOTES AND QUOTATIONS. 

to the attention of the young and inconsiderate 
reader. 

5 A number of people together, it may be re- 
marked,, upon different occasions, acquire different 
names, as the parliament in England, the con- 
gress in America, the audience in a play house, the 

. meeting of dissenters, and the congregation met to 
worship God in public, according to the established 
form. 

6 Pope's Essay on Man. 

7 Humanum est errare, Ter. 

8 There is none that doeth good, &c. Ps. 

Qctgu[A.zv vtzuv rov fiiov k&a, Xa^Trov toWs-w/xev. Chiys. 

10 Hsec studia pernoctant nobiscum, peregrinan- 
tur, rusticantur. Cie. 

11 Sol aureus. Virg. 

l * In less than 70 years after the crucifixion/ the 
Apostles and Evangelists, no more than 16 persons 
preached the Gospel over the whole of what was then 
called the civilized world, from the Tigris and the 
Caspian in the East, to the Mediterranean shores on 
the West ; a tract of more than 4000 miles, and ex- 
tending from North to South, on a fair average, full 
1300, taking the Danube, Euxine, and the country 
in the same parallel on one side with the African 
States, the Lower Egypt, Arabia to the mouth of the 
Euphrates on the other, comprehending within its 
immense space the vast countries of Mesopotamia 



NOTES AND QUOTATIONS. 187 

Caldea, Assyria, Armenia, the numerous and popu- 
lous cities of the Minor- Asia, Greece, great part of 
Italy, together with the Mediterranean islands, and, 
as some say, Spain, Gaul, and even Britain; be- 
sides the states of Germany, Syria, and Arabia. 
It is to be feared, that these momentous labors 
of the first propagators of Christianity appear* 
almost, incredible to the young, timid, and heed- 
less professor of Christianity 3 but, it is, more- 
over, to be ardently hoped, that they will, seriously, 
operate as weekly incentives, at least, in the minds, 
both of priest and people towards the faithful dis- 
charge of their several duties: which, though in 
some instances attended with difficulty, are still not 
to be set in competition with what our early ances- 
tors even in this country had to contend. 

13 Moses had not only the important charge of 
protecting the Israelites against the tyranny of Pha- 
raoh, of conducting them amidst the perils of the 
country, safely through the Red Sea, leading them 
through dangerous deserts, warning them against 
the idolatry of heathen nations, and providing for 
their wants ; but, he was commissioned by the spe- 
cial favor of the Almighty with the promulgation of 
his laws. 

14 The celebrated legislator of Israel was succeeded 
by Joshua, who conducted the people into the pro- 
mised land, where the Lord was with him as he had 
been with Moses, by signs, and by wonders, and by 



I 88 NOTES AND QUOTATIONS. 

mighty deeds, in leading their armies, in conquer- 
ing their enemies, in taking cities, in working mira- 
cles, and by exhorting men to universal obedience. 

15 Asa. The reign of this prince is distinguished 
by no marks of particular activity. In the begin- 
ning, he behaved wisely and piously, by expelling 
the idolatrous people, overthrowing the ^Ethiopians 
through God's assistance, and, in building cities 5 
but, its close was disgraced by bribing ,Benhadad, 
king of Syria, instead of relying upon the Almighty 
against Baasha king of Israel. 

16 Josiah's memory is justly entitled to the venera- 
tion of the most distant posterity, and to the parti- 
cular imitation of modern princes, for as much as he 
endeavored to extirpate idolatry, and to re-establish 
the true religion. The only warlike act which he at- 
tempted, was his rash attack upon Pharaoh-neco, 
who slew him at Megiddo, when he had seen him. 

17 This vast luminary, though stationary in the 
centre of our system, revolves on its own axis: 
that is to say in other words, though relieved from 
the prodigious degree of motion of revolving round 
the earth every twenty-four hours as the antients 
supposed, it is not a body perfectly quiescent : for 
the spots on its disk prove a revolution in the place, 
where it is fixed, in 27 days and a half. 

18 The periodic time of a planet, is the space it 
takes up in going from any part of its orbit round 
the sun ajid returning to the same : that of the pla- 



NOTES AND QUOTATIONS. 189 

net Mercury, which is nearest the sun, is little more 
than three months. It varies in the rest, according 
to their distance : till, in the Georgium Sidus, the 
year is encreased to the enormous length of 80 of our 
revolutions. 

19 There is no period of the year, by night or by 
day, during the hottest or coldest weather, wherein 
evaporation ceases. Let any one, faithless as to this 
assertion, invert a glass tumbler on a scorched grass 
plot, or an arid fallows, during the days of raging 
Sirius. In a short space, its internal surface will be 
covered with a dew, which unless the vessel is soon 
turned, will be discharged copiously down the sides 
upon the ground, in drops. If the weight, super- 
ficies, and time of inversion, be each previously- 
taken, and correctly compared with the adventitious 
weight of the whole surface of an acre of land in a si- 
milar state of aridity, and within the space of a sum- 
mer's day : it will be found, that a quantity between 
1400 and 1S00 gallons of water is, thus insensibly 
exhaled, during this period. Who, then, blessed 
with a portion of land, can be so senseless as not, in 
this instance, to discern, and so ungrateful as not 
to adore, the wise ruler of the world : who, conti- 
nually, provides for the wants of all his children, by 
different modes of rendering the earth fruitful. This 
is, sometimes effected by inundation : as in the plains 
of the Lower Egypt, where it never rains : at other, 
by watering the vallies with the fertile showers 5 but, 
1 5 




190 NOTES AND QUOTATIONS. 

more generally by the inestimable, though less no- 
ticed blessing, the dew. 

20 The earth's surface, generally, speakiag, can- 
not be said to be perfectly quiescent. It is ploughed, **±ri 
turned over, and torn diverse ways, by man: cut 
and disturbed by quadrupeds, scratched and pecked 
by fowls, perforated by insects, lightened by vegeta- 
tion, swept by winds, sodden by rains, and elevated 
by frosts, contracted by cold, and expanded by heat. 
The particles of water being perfectly hard and glo- 
bular, it is impossible for its surface to be perfectly 
smooth. The rocky parts alone in some degree may 
be called stationary: yet, these are subject to at- 
trition, and being small in comparison with all 
others, can be said to detract no more from the 
moveable state of the whole, than the numerous in- 
equalities, as pits, mines, caverns, and valleys on its 
surface, from the general rotundity. 

21 This medium, every one must know, is in a 
perpetual flux. It admits various degrees of com- 
pression and expansion, inconceivable to a finite ca- 
pacity. 

22 Many creatures are superior in strength and 
swiftness ; but, to none is given such a commanding 
aptitude of form. None are capable of enduring 
such persevering fatigue, of planning and executing 
such designs : none, with so little inconvenience, at 
least, are able to exist in all climates. The dog from 
affection is led to accompany its master, though 



m>TES AND QUOTATIONS. 191 

there are various islands and vast tracts of continents 
where it is not indigenous. 

23 This is a blessing peculiarly limited to the hu- 
man race. 

24 Though inferior to the former, it is still an en- 
dowment of inconceivable value ; for what would be 
the condition of mankind, with neither speech no? 
language ? 

ss There is no country, wherein the liberty of its 
subjects is more indiscriminately protected, and 
where licentiousness is more generally discounte- 
nanced. Others, no doubt, enjoy a more perfect 
serenity of sky, and excell in the richness and rarity 
of particular productions j but in what region of the 
earth is it the lot of man to dwell, where there is such 
an union of blessings natural and acquired, as in 
England ? 

2 * This has been and ever will be the case, while 
hostile armies are in motion at a distance from their 
respective countries. 

27 A mine is a place formed by man under the sur- 
face of the earth 5 where metals, minerals, fuel, or 
precious stones are found. As these produce different 
materials, so they accordingly acquire different 
names, gold, silver, diamond, iron, tin, lead, cop- 
per, coal mines, &e. In working these each coun- 
try employs a great number of its subjects. In some, 
as under the arbitrary government of Spain and Rus- 



192 NOTES AND QUOTATION*. 

sia, criminals are condemned to spend the wretched 
residue of their days. In others, particularly in the salt 
works of Poland, dwellings are formed, where the in- 
habitants by choice, pass a contented subterraneous life. 
28 Any one is not only liable to be impressed on 
ship-board j but, to serve his majesty without limita- 
tion as to time, country, or commander. Surely, 
then, all such, whose merits or vocations enable 
them to escape this forced and dangerous war- 
fare ought to shew forth all their gratitude, by re- 
lieving those poor distressed seamen, whom they oc- 
casionally meet worn out, or wounded in defence of 
their country. The law authorizing the impress of 
seamen seems to carry the appearance of Russian 
slavery or Turkish despotism — a law, which every ad- 
vocate for civil and religious liberty naturally wishes 
either to be totally abrogated, or fairly commuted. 
The utmost such an one can possibly say in its de- 
fence, and he cannot say, even> that, with a very 
good grace : is, it is supposed, at present, to be an 
act of imperious necessity. 

* 9 It is found necessary to keep military stations on 
the northern frontiers of Indostan, as well as on the 
confines of Canada, where the cold exceeds the utmost 
degree of what is felt during the rigor of a British 
winter. 

30 Remember the fate of him, who kept his Lords 
talent in a napkin. 



NOTES AND QUOTATIONS. 193 

31 Ut melius, quicquid erit pati ! Hor. 

32 q s j an g U lus ille 

Proximus accedat, qui nunc denormat Agellum! 

Hor. 

33 Richard III. on the very morning just previous 
to the decisive battle of Bosworth. 

34 Wicked and artful laborers, who designedly fill 
their pockets or shoes with corn at every return to 
their meals, persuading themselves there is no harm, 
because so small a quantity will neither be missed 
nor felt, are just as bad as they who dare to take as 
much at one time. The eyes of the Lord, which are 
1000 times brighter than the sun, and purer than to 
behold evil, will not fail sooner or later to bring to 
light the hidden things of darkness and dishonesty. 

35 See the 12 first verses of our blessed Lord's Ser- 
mon upon the Mount : wherein a blessing is pro- 
mised to all such as severally excell in different reli- 
gious virtues. 

36 Parvis componere, &c. Virg. 

37 In the naval, military, and ecclesiastical line, 
instances, not a few, have occurred within the me- 
mory of the existing race. A certain prime minister, 
not half a century ago, more to be respected for his 
good humor than sound policy, replied to an ac- 
quaintance, jocosely remonstrating on his presuming 
to elevate his brother to a bishoprick, at so early an 
age! 

Tu, dum tua navis, &e. Hor, 



I 94 notes' and quotations, 

38 Pope's Essay on Man, 

39 See the meditations of the heroic sovereign, on 
the night previous to the battle of Agincourt, where 
the English, animated by the conduct of their leader, 
obtained a signal victory against a fearful disparity of 
numbers. 

40 Read the affectionate blessing, wherewith Isaac 
blessed his beloved Esau. 

41 Mercy, even to his beast, is mentioned by Sa- 
lomon as a striking feature in the character of a 
righteous man. 

42 Quae regio in terris, &c. Yirg. 

43 Boulogne sur la mer, and the cliffs a little to 
the south of Dover, correspond as nearly as two con- 
tiguous leaves of a book. 

44 Derbyshire presents the nearest examples. 

45 In various parts of the northern counties. 

41 Vesuvius, ./Etna, Hecla, or the Andes, and the 
inmost Asia. 

47 Syria. 

48 Herculaneum and Pompeii are said to have suf- 
fered by an earthquake, about A. D. 62, and in 15 
years afterwards, to have been buried by a fiery erup- 
tion of Vesuvius, and discovered 1730. 

49 The first was nearly destroyed in 1755. The 
second suffered very much by the same awful visita- 
tion, in 1799 ; and the third in 1812. 

50 The former was at the northern, the latter at 
the southern extremity of the promised land. They 



NOTES AND QUOTATIONS. 195 

are commonly used, to signify the general extent of 
a country from one end to the other. 

51 Did any one ever observe this tremendous in- 
strument of omnipotence attack the strongest works 
of nature or of art, without effect ? Scarcely a sum- 
mer passeth by, but we hear, in most neighbor- 
hoods, either some human beings, or, cattle falling, 
indiscriminately, sudden victims of this awful visita- 
tion. 

5 - Sub dio morari. Hor. 

53 Hence the periodical inundations of the Nile. 

54 Northern winds in autumn, winter, and spring, 
produce cold : for the very same reason, and at a little 
after the summer solstice they are, sometimes at- 
tended with heat, even while the sky with us conti- 
nues dark and lowering. The reason is evidently 
this : the immeasurable fiats over which they sweep, 
are, in the former case, covered with snow, sealed 
up with frost, and darkness broodeth over the face of 
the waters : in the latter, they are brightened and 
heated with continual sunshine. Of course it fol- 
lows that the winds traversing over the same regions, 
at different seasons of the year, arrive at the shores 
of our North, charged with the cold air at one pe- 
riod and with hot at another. 

55 Labor omnia vincit improbus. Yirg. 

56 With such like animated expressions, of a cast 
peculiar to himself, the three first volumes of Blair's 
sermons generally abound* 



196 NOTES AND QUOTATIONS. 

57 The above sentiments, it is presumed, are per- 
fej^ly consonant to the universal tenor of the Holy 
Scriptures, from one end to the other j but, in no 
part of the Old Testament do they strike the mind of 
the attentive reader with greater energy and truth, 
than throughout the whole virtuous administration 
of Moses over the rebellious Israelites : as well as of 
Job, under a load of the most aggravated and op- 
pressive evils : if we refer to the sacred pages of the 
New, we shall there find patience under misfortunes, 
perseverance under difficulties, and industry in every 
vocation, recommended in the most forcible and 
lively manner, both by the precept and example of 
the Son of God, and of his faithful followers. 

58 Being thoroughly ignorant of surgery, as well 
as of the whole materia medica, I hope to be ex- 
cused, should it appear that I have presumed too 
much in venturing to say the hard-drinker is liable, 
sooner or later to be attacked with the following ma- 
ladies. 

1. Inflammations of two kinds. 

Internal, which cause sudden and bring on lin- 
gering death. 

External, which are displayed plainly, and, vari- 
ous ways, in the features. 

2. Corpulency more generally : which terminates 
sometimes in swollen limbs, often in apoplexy, suf- 
focation, diseased liver, low spirits, dropsy, &c. 

3. Emaciation, attended with a faultering voice, 



NOTES AND QUOTATIONS. 197 

weeping eye, a gastly countenance, shaking hand, 
tottering gait, and a total loss of strength. 
To the above may, perhaps,, be added : 

Gout. 

Jauudice. 

Indigestion. 

Failing memory. 

Fits. 

Idiotism. 

Melancholy. 

Madness. 

Premature old age, 
and 

Disgraceful death. 
It is, moreover, asserted by a physician, whose 
memory stands high in the medical world, that those 
very diseases arising from drinking spirits, are liable 
to become hereditary, and consequently to continue 
through several generations. 

59 plausse sonitum cervicis amatae. Virg. 

60 Disgrace, derange, &c. Whan can be more 
disreputable to any man, it matters not what his 
rank in life is, than to have it said — the truth is not 
in him.-*— What more grievous to parents, more 
cutting to children, or more distressing to relations, 
than to hear a lying tongue ? what more likely to 
overthrow the social comforts of a neighbourhood ? 

61 More common. It requires little discernment 
to find either some foolish babbler, or some artful di- 



198 NOTES AND QUOTATIONS 

viner in any populous town, and, too often in the 
smallest village. 

62 Higher charged, &c. What more fertile source 
of evil? what more apt to sow the seeds of discord, 
than a lying tongue, which is justly stiled an abomi- 
nation to the Lord. 

63 Attended with less gratification. That some 
sins afford a temporary pleasure, as theft to gratify 
the appetite, taking a purse to procure some article 
of avarice, vanity, or ambition, cannot be denied; 
but, in such mere wanton, glaring falsehoods, as 
frequently make the righteous sad, where is the de- 
light, or from what impure fountain can such unac- 
countable propensity arise, except in a bad heart, 
and where is it likely to terminate unless in contempt, 
in misery, and without repentance, in everlasting 
death I 

** None more imprudent. A false man may, by 
his falseness, conceal his falseness a little while in 
a strange country, and, impose upon strangers in his 
own ; but, the real worthless trait of such a worth- 
less character is as well known in his neighborhood, 
as the door of the church or the hand of the town 
clock. Where, then, is such a man's prudence j 
who dares, thus, to transgress, daily, in open day- 
light, against the pbsitive command of his God, 
whom we see continually frustrating the tokens of 
the lyars and making diviners mad ? 



NOTES AND QUOTATIONS. 199 

% More strictly prohibited by God. Certainly in 
the ninth commandment. The words do not al- 
lude to false testimony given against any one in a 
court of justice, or before a magistrate only ; but, 
they imply every kind of falsehood, purposely fabri- 
cated or propagated to the injury of another behind 
his back, and, which the attentive reader finds dis- 
couraged, in every form, universally, throughout 
the Scriptures. Consider what happened to those 
dissemblers, Gehazi, Ananias, and to Saphira. If 
these dreadful examples, thus purposely recorded, are 
insufficient to deter, be persuaded, reader, to pe- 
ruse, carefully, the Proverbs of Solomon, and to 
reflect seriously on the life of our blessed Savior and 
his holy Apostles. 

66 Discountenanced by all good men. No sooner 
does any one venture to deviate from the high road 
of truth, than his word becomes immediately tainted : 
nor is it possible to recover its former validity, any 
more than to restore wool once dyed to its original 
whiteness ; but, the very first moment a man is de- 
tected in a deliberate lye, however high his pub- 
lic estimation before time, his character, now, like 
the wheat in August touched with the deadly blight> 
is as sure to perish, as the knarled oak struck with the 
resistless thunderbolt. We see, indeed, not unfre- 
quently such unhappy instances of infirmity still ex- 
isting. Charitable minds will continue to treat them 
charitably ; but, being depressed below the common 



200 NOTES AND QUOTATIONS. 

level of estimation, who can esteem or who can trust 
them ? 

67 In holy writ^ to persons of this unhappy cast no 
less than 12 different appellations are affixed. 

1. Lyars. 

2. Babblers. 

3. Hypocrites. 

4. Dissemblers. 

5. Diviners. 

6. Inventors. 

7. Forgers. 

8. Falsewitnesses. 

9. Perjured persons. 

10. Proud Boasters. 

11. False Prophets. 

12. Deceivers. 

In most parts of our own kingdom, at least, the 
.morality and good sense of the people seldom fail to 
stigmatize this class of delinquents with different 
titles of sarcastic opprobrium, proportioned to the 
scale of their respective delinquency. 

1. A person in the higher walks of life, so unhap- 
pily addicted, is, modestly, called by the common 
people a sad man. 

2. If of the middle order in society, cool, prompt, 
and witty in detailing his falsehoods, his name is 
tatler : the productions of such an one are good-ons. 
bangers, long shots, &c. 



NOTES AND QUOTATIONS. 201 

3. The lowest degree retort still more plainly upon 
one another, in terms pointed and reproachful. A 
common lyar, and a sly hypocritical fellow, are ex- 
pressions generally applied without fear or reserve to 
the offender's face. The epithets — infamous and 
abominable — are often, indiscriminately applied to 
each. 

68 Woollen, linen, cotton, and silk. 

69 Persons employed in all kinds of rural labor, 
ploughing, sowing, &c. 

70 Maj ores que cadunt alt is de montibus umbrae. 
Virg. 

71 P. 1/6. Day of Christianity, &c.]— Elijah, a na- 
tive of Tishbe. The life of this eminent prophet, was 
so eminently good, that God condescended to preserve 
it, for a long time together by a continual miracle ; 
and, at length, to take him up to heaven, without 
permitting him to pass through the common gate of 
death. 

72 P. 17'6. Reign in their £tead.] — It is not un- 
usual to hear persons, verging fast toward the 
evening of life, desirous to revert to the morn- 
ing, and to run the day over again. To say no- 
thing of the impiety of such a thought ; let them 
only reflect awhile on a few of the most obvious 
consequences, w T hich must unavoidably attend the 
supposed unnatural prolongation of human exist- 
ence. Within the short period of 30 years, taking 



202 NOTES AND QUOTATIONS. 

all classes as to age and situation, fairly, on an ave- 
rage : the old are swept away, and a new race ex- 
alted in its stead. So that this village, which, with 
its adjunct contains about 700 inhabitants, would in 
1843 have no less than 1400: in 1873 its number 
would be 2100, excluding the supposition that none 
but the younger class only continue to propagate. 
Behold ! in this case, what an insuperable host of dif- 
ficulties is immediately presented to one's view : the 
most obvious of which are as to food, raiment, 
and dwelling : besides " a countless multitude" of 
others, inferior indeed, though still of indispensable 
importance to the general welfare : such as seats in 
the church, horses to carry, oxen to support, and 
sheep to cloath us. Besides, if every individual may 
be supposed, though not to die, yet, not to continue 
in one stay without deteriorating with increasing 
time, it is far beyond the most fertile genius to ima- 
gine what a scene of confusion such a wretched 
neighborhood of mandarine daddies, each accompa- 
nied by his poor withered dame, neither distinguish- 
ing, distinguished, nor distinguishable from one 
another, would actually make. 

73 Non refert quam diu, sed quam benfe vixeris. 
Sallust. 

74 P. 177.* u While all about us are frail and pe- 
rishing." — " Omnes res humanse fragiles caducseque 
sunt." Cic. 



NOTES AND QUOTATIONS. 2015 

Ci The strongest monuments, &c. 
<c jQuandoquidem data sunt ipsis quoque Fata se- 
pulchris." Juv. 

75 se d omnes una manet nox, 

Et calcanda semel via lethi. Hor, 

76 If the immense number of the human species is 
considered, no one will doubt this. 

77 P. ISO. When we die, &c— Sherlock. 



CONCLUSION. 

I am persuaded, friends and brethren, that, in the 
perusal of these previous pages, you will continue to, 
exercise the same fervent charity, both with regard 
to the errors of the printer and failings of the author, 
which during 18 years of my residence among you* 
we have mutually practiced one with another — a vir- 
tue upon which our happiness in this world very much 
depends, and upon which our brightest hopes in ano- 
ther confidently rest. » 



P. 17. line 9, for when read which. 
167. lineal, for stood read stand. 



Printed by Nichols, Son, and Bentley, 
Ked Lion Passage, Fleet Street, London. 





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